Kindred Spirits
by Iapetus
Summary: When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.
1. Inverted

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  I do not own either one of these series.  If I did I wouldn't have to worry about paying for my college tuition…

****Spoilers****:  

Issue number one, there is always the possibility for spoilers in this story.  However, if you know who Kagura and Kanna are from Inu Yasha, and about the incident in the desert involving a scorpion demon from Saiyuki (and generally what happened up to these points in both series), you should be fine.

Issue number two, the Inu Yasha universe is a bit AU, since they are all older in this story.  You'll find out by how much as you read.

**_WARNING:_**  

There is a reason for the rating.  I might even eventually push it up to R, because it is on the borderline of PG-13 and R.  This doesn't really apply to the first chapter, but it will definitely apply in the later ones.

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Chapter 1:  Inverted

            Kagome wanted to pound her fist against the wall in frustration.  It was going to be the last night she spent in her house for a long time, and she wanted to get a good night's sleep.

            In a decisive attempt to finally complete the Shikon no Tama as well as to kill Naraku, Kagome was going to leave her world for a full year.  No side trips home that would anchor her to the Bone Gobbling Well – they would be free to travel across all of Japan to search for the shards.  Of course, Naraku had already had this advantage that he lived in only one time.  He was sure to have ensnared the shards beyond their reach by now, but there was always hope.  His greatest concern were the ones that Inu Yasha and her could reach.

            Kagome's reasoning had not been solid, but she also knew that all the shards had not been accounted for.  Naraku and herself both possessed a sizeable chunk of the Jewel, and Kouga still had shards in his legs.  Even Sesshomaru had a shard now.  Approximately half of the jewel shards had shown their faces, but it still left a huge prize.  It was only a question on who would claim it first.

            She had, against her own will at first, begun this suicidal quest six years ago.  Kaede had told them that the jewel could have shattered into any amount of shards when Kagome's fateful arrow struck the crow demon.  The possibility that the jewel would be in a hundred pieces was almost too much for her to bear, but now it seemed like there was closer to a thousand.

            That, and the fact that her previous incarnation Kikyo had shattered Naraku's portion of the jewel two years ago.  The vile half demon had in possession at the time all but Sesshomaru's, Kouga's and her shards.  However, with the Reshattering (as they now referred to the event as), Kagome knew that she'd never have a chance at a normal life again.

            Closing her eyes, the young woman of twenty-one years tried to will herself to sleep.  It might be the last time she'd ever sleep in her bed again.  To openly oppose Naraku was a death wish, but she knew that without her purification power, their group could never hope to completely kill him.

            That wasn't the only thing, though.  She wasn't sure she wanted to come back to this time.

            A person can only live in one time, and Kagome found herself torn between her two worlds.

            Distraught, the woman's breathing slowly became regular.  A gentle breeze blew across her face and danced briefly over her closed eyelids.

            She was here again.  How could she never remember when she was awake?  Well, that wasn't completely true.  When she was younger, she could only remember contentment after waking.  As she got older, she began to remember someone, as if from a past life.

            The image was never very clear, though, as a child.  He'd be wearing the robe of an apprentice monk, and she'd be wearing the child version of miko robes.  However, she could never seem to see his face.  It was either that, or she could not remember it.  But, the boy was always familiar to her, and she loved to gaze into his eyes.  _What color were his eyes? _She wondered.

            When she'd be crying over something, he'd always be there.  Kagome had the suspicion that he wasn't there completely of his own will.  He always seemed distracted, always thinking about what was going to happen next.  His aloof attitude did not make sense to the young girl, but she did not question his actions.

            And she remembered times when she had been feeling perfectly fine, but would find herself in their world – the boy slightly upset over something.  Of course, he'd never admit anything was wrong, but with time Kagome could tell.  He became as transparent to her as she was to him.

            This was her secret friend, someone no one else knew about.  He was not like the imaginary friends she had had before, or that her friends had.  He was REAL.  Kagome didn't know how to describe it.  His moods, his attitude, even his touch was alive.

            Kagome had discovered later in school that one couldn't feel in a dream.  Emotions can be felt, but touch cannot.  She was taught to pinch herself when she thought she was dreaming, so that she could wake up.

            Kagome needed no pinch to tell herself that the boy was real.  She could feel him, yet she knew she had never been to any place like that in her "dream."

            All of this swirled in her mind as she traced the steps to the river.  The path was worn, but familiar.  Donned in miko robes yet again, Kagome contemplated the humor of her outfit.  How had her dream known that she was Kikyo's reincarnation?  How had she known even before her fateful fifteenth birthday?  Face pulled back in distaste, Kagome untied the ribbon that held back her hair.  She shook her head slightly, freeing the raven colored stands from their former prison.  There had been occasions were Kagome had been forced to dress up as a miko, causing herself to look the exact mirror image of her former self.  It was a form of rebellion – Kagome would not tie her hair back like a good miko should.  Hair was meant to fly in the wind, not to be restrained.  She smiled a small smile as she slowly reached her destination.  The apprentice monk was rebellious as well.  She could never remember many details about him, but he had never shaved his head.  _What color was his hair?_  She tried to remember.

            Sitting down on the bank of the river, Kagome looked at her reflection.  She had not been to this place in years.  Ever since she had met Inu Yasha… a chasm had seemed to fill in her heart.  Well, not completely.  In dreams like this, she'd long for her old friend, her double.  He was what she had always wanted to act like, but was taught that doing such things were rude.  He lived her life for her.  But now, with her main life back in the Era of Warring States, she could be more of herself without society caring.  In the past, she was a warrior, not a woman who should be going to college.

            Her quiver began to roll to the water's edge, and she caught it just in time.  While they always stole unused arrows from the quivers of those fallen in battle, she could not waste them.  It was a short time of peace, and they would have to buy any arrows she would use.

            After arranging her bow and quiver on the bank so that it would not roll, Kagome went back to admiring the water.  It was so clear, she could see the tiniest of pebbles at its bottom.  This was her favorite river in the whole world.  But, where was it?

            It seemed like only minutes had passed when she heard footsteps from the direction she came.  Who would know of this spot?  No one had been here in years except her.  It was her sanctuary, her refuge from the world.  Not even Inu Yasha knew of this spot…

            Then, she felt something she had not felt in years.  Turning around, she was startled at what she beheld.

            She couldn't believe it – it was _him_.

            The ki that felt so much like hers… her double...  Her kindred spirit.  Her secret friend.

            The sun was setting as she got the first good look at the One who had been her comforter.  Her childhood savior.

            The boy was now a man.  In the short distance that separated them, Kagome could see that he was, yet again, taller than her.  He had always been taller than her, but this time it felt so different.  He no longer wore the robes of an apprentice, but of a high rank.  Underneath the robes appeared to be a form fitting black top, as well as matching sleeves.  In the back of her mind, she could remember Miroku tell her of these particular robes.  Monks of this caliber simply did not live in Japan.  They resided in mainland Asia.  Despite her efforts, she could not place his title.

            He was not built like most monks.  She could tell that under the folds of robes that he would be muscular.  She had seen him practice katas occasionally in their dreams before.  As her eyes traveled to his face, she knew that if her friends from home could only see her "imaginary" friend now…

            His face took her breath away.  Hair as golden as the sun blew softly in the wind from underneath what appeared to be a crown of metallic gold.  She could feel the wind in her own hair, and smiled inwardly.  He had not changed – he still had not shaved his head.  She had a feeling that he would still be rebellious.  His face beautiful to behold, a strong angular face that seemed to radiate his strength.  On his forehead was the red chakra she remembered receiving after his master's death.  It had not suited him as a child.  Now it only enhanced his features.

            It was his eyes, however, that truly captured her.  She was reminded of the lilac tree that grew on the temple grounds.  Sparkling with intensity, he gazed back at her with equal curiosity.

            How could she have ever thought that the boy she knew would be _him?_  There was no mistaking him anywhere – it was her childhood friend – but there was absolutely no way that he could be human.  She must have died, and he was taking her to heaven.

            No, that couldn't be right.  Inu Yasha would never let her die.  Then was this man an angel?  He simply couldn't be human.  He was too perfect, too beautiful.  He was like a god.

            Kagome had to repress the incredible urge to run up and hug the man.  She was letting her memories get the best of her.  There was no way she could just run up and hug a god, or an angel, or even if he was just a high ranking priest.  In her mind, Kagome compromised by reminding herself that the boy (now a man) had never liked being touched.  It was rare that he ever would reach out to comfort her, and it was why she treasured each time that he did.  It was almost as if a touch was taboo to him.

            Tears began to form in the back of her eyes.  No liquid pooled in her eye, but she could feel the pressure behind them ready to break loose.  Closing her eyes to relieve the pressure, she smiled at her long lost friend.  Where had he been?  She had wanted to tell him of all of her adventures with Inu Yasha and her other friends, especially since she could not tell her friends at school.  They had both drifted apart, but now they were back.

            There was so much she wanted to say; so much she wanted him to say to her.  To her sadness, her mouth would make no noise as she opened it.  Puzzled, she massaged her throat and tried again.  A look of concern crossed his face, and he went to ask what was wrong.

            At least, that is what she knew he was trying to ask.  He too could not speak from his mouth.  Kagome desperately wanted to ask him what he was.  Was he a god?  Or was he only a priest?  If so, what rank of priest?  The man seemed to ask the same question of her.  Did she really look that different in the miko robes, now that she was a grown woman?  She reminded herself that this was the only thing he ever saw her in.  It wasn't like Inu Yasha's reaction to her whenever she wore miko robes.  This was what was familiar to him.

            Moving closer, she pleaded a question from her eyes that she knew he could not answer.  Her friend had never had a name.  For whatever reason, they simply had never thought to ask it of each other.  Either that, or when she'd ask (or when he'd ask), they'd….

            …wake up.

            Kagome groaned inwardly at her luck.  Why did she have to think the thought?  Maybe there would have been some way for her to break whatever had been sealing their mouths, and they could have talked.  Opening her eyes, she stared at the ceiling, and then shut her eyes quickly.  There was no way she would forget the image of her kindred spirit, not when she had had the first chance to ever see him so clearly.

            "Who are you?" she whispered, as she slowly fell back asleep, wishing to return to his presence and to have her questions answered.

            Genjo Sanzo woke up violently, as if kicked from behind.  Glaring at the rear-view mirror, he saw the sleeping form of Gojyo shifting his feet.  Cursing their bad luck at not making it to the nearest town, he tried to settle back down again in his spot in the front of the jeep.

            He hadn't believed it when he first saw her.  She wasn't the little girl he remembered running and playing in the temple yard, or the one crying by the side of the river.  This was a woman, and she was _alive_.  He had never forgotten about the dreams of his childhood "friend," but he had not thought about her in years.  As a young boy, he had denied her authenticity by telling himself that he simply imagined her out his frustration while growing up.  But, if she had been a true aparation of his mind, how could she have changed so much?

            And why was it, that he could not feel her anywhere in this world?  It was obvious that she was real – he remembered her touch the night after his master had died.  He had been there for her when her father passed away, and she could understand his pain.  As he traveled though Tougenkyou looking for his master's Seitan Scriptures, he was sure he would have been able to find her.

            Their contact had faded, as they grew older, and had all but dissolved when Sanzo freed Goku from the mountain.  But tonight… tonight was so vivid.  He could remember everything so clearly – her foreign priestess robes, her long hair blowing in the wind, the large chocolate brown eyes filled with joy.

            He wondered why she had called out to him.  It was obvious that he was not distressed about anything in particular.  Well, nothing beyond what was happening on a regular basis.  Nothing huge had happened that he needed to talk to someone secretly about it.  She had to have been distressed, but he could have sworn that she was just as surprised as he was to see her in their dream.

            _Why now?_ He thought.  _Why, if neither of us are troubled, do we see each other again?_

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Please let me know what you thought.  Comments and criticisms are both greatly appreciated!

-Iapetus


	2. White Lie

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer: Kazuya Minekura created Saiyuki, and Takahashi Rumiko created Inu Yasha.  I am just borrowing their wonderful characters.

You can find my responses to the reviews in my LiveJournal entry for January 1, 2004.  (My username is _iapetus.  The address for my journal can be found in my profile.)  Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it.  I wish I could put an actual URL up, but fanfiction.net is being weird about it…

**Essential Japanese for this chapter-**

_Oniisan:_  older brother

_Okaasan:_  mother

_-ikkou:_  party/group (as in Sanzo-ikkou or Kougaiji-ikkou, the Sanzo party or Kougaiji party)

_ero kappa_:  perverted water sprite – more specifically, _kappa_ means water sprite

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Chapter 2:  White Lie

            It was the kind of day Kagura had always hated.  The air was too still; there was no wind to comfort her troubled thoughts.  She had always had the sensation that her "master" did this on purpose to unnerve her – to make her remember the chain that bound her to him.

            No matter how much she wanted to take one of her wind blades and pierce his heart, she could not.  Not as long as Naraku kept her heart in his hand – not as long as he guarded it within himself day and night.

            She knew he knew she hated him.  The wind could not be restrained.  It was formless and could not be bound by any mortal methods.  But, she was born _of_ him, almost as if she was a daughter.

            Not quite.  The mutt had said before that she reeked of Naraku's stench, even if she was slightly different.  While it was true that she was actually a part of the powerful half demon, there was no way that she could be him.

            Still, he amused himself knowing the fact that _he_ was the greatest wind youkai in the land, because Kagura was a part of himself.  He also amused himself at the thought of controlling what no one else could control, like so many different things.

            Narrowing her eyes, Kagura attempted to mask her eternal loathing of the spider demon to only an extreme dislike.  It would not be good for her Master to rub in what was already obvious.

            As Kagura neared the enormous room of the castle in which Naraku resided, she could feel the pulse of the Shikon shards power.  Naraku never let them out of his sight, whether it be from his eyes or those of the Hell Wasps.  He would certainly never trust them to her.  Kagura chuckled bitterly.  Her power was insignificant next to her Master's.  He was too alert for her to catch him off guard.  His death, unfortunately, would not be anytime soon.

            Ignoring the two ignorant humans that guarded his door, Kagura walked in.  The "helpless prince" bit never seemed to get old for him.  He would never do more than he had to.  Why do something when someone else could do it for you?  It was his policy in all that he did, and Kagura was getting sick of it.

            Naraku was leaning against the wall across from the door.  From his vantage point, nothing could sneak up on him.  The window, while open, was protected by several nasty curses that did things to living beings that made her squeamish.  Nothing made Kagura squeamish, and she was even glad that her enemies did not have to face this curse in their day-to-day fighting.  The curse only worked in special circumstances.  And, had some being somehow got up the high wall and through the window unhurt, they would still have to face the occupant inside.  Naraku did not care about tearing his castle to shreds – it was very easy to find another one.

            Kanna was also in the room, silent as always.  She held her mirror in front of her, and was turned to face their master.  Though she could not see it, Kagura knew that no emotion would be on the demon's face.  Eyeing their master, she saw that his gaze was intent on the image within the mirror.  His mouth, whose corners were often turned up in a mischievous grin, remained flat and emotionless.  Although it infuriated her, Kagura resisted the urge to look into the mirror herself.  He was aware of her presence, she was sure of it, but he had chosen not to acknowledge her.  Whatever was in the mirror was much more important than her at the time.

            It had to be at least a half hour later when Naraku's mouth slowly moved into a cruel smile.  Kanna moved away from their master as his eyes shifted to Kagura.  The pensive look was gone – replaced by his normal aloof manner.  Taking a deep breath, Kagura resisted the urge to just ask what the hell he wanted, and why did he make her wait so long.  Rudeness would get her nowhere with her master, it might even put in the mood to teach her a "lesson."  Biting her lip, she resisted yet another urge, this time to shudder.

            "Kagura," he spoke softly, interrupting her thoughts, "It was good of you to come."

            _Like I had any choice?_ She thought bitterly.

            "Tell me, has the miko returned?" he asked lazily.

            Naraku had known for a long time that Kagome did not exist in this time.  She came from another world, a world where the Shikon no Tama had not been at risk.  Kagura knew that Naraku longed to invade that world – a world that was not prepared to face a demon.  He also longed to catch the woman off her guard; in one of the few moments she thought she was safe.

            However, she had been gone far longer than she had in the past several years.  The girl would often be gone for only a day, and then would be back with a bag full of foreign supplies.  She had currently been gone for a week.  In her master's eyes, there was no point in pursuing the mutt and his little group when the jewel wasn't even there for his taking.  To put it plainly, he was bored.  At least, that was what his body expression showed.

            Kagura never did trust first impressions.  The demon was a master actor, and she could tell that while he was bored with the absence of Kagome, he was also excited about something.

            "No, the 'miko' has not returned from her time," Kagura said shortly.  "There hasn't been much in the way of activity anywhere for the past week.  None of the humans have had any of their battles.  There has been nothing unusual happening _anywhere_."

            "I believe I will have to disagree with you there, Kagura," he said slowly.  His smile never left his face, teasing her to ask more.  She refused to rise to his bait, silently waiting for the explanation that would soon come.

            "You see, Kanna has just informed me of an interesting demon that I wish to merge with.  His power is well known, and it has been said that the only being to ever take him down was a god.

            "However, as much as the both of us search, we cannot find any information about his revival.  The past is so muddied that even Kanna's mirror cannot make it clear."

            "The past?" Kagura said dubiously.  "What does the past have to do with it?"  She mentally slapped herself for rising to his bait.  His smile widened slightly as he continued.

            "Yes.  The demon I want to merge with is in the past.  It appears as though someone is trying to revive him, and I want to help."

            _Sure you do, you greedy bastard._  "How are we supposed to do that?"

            Eyes glistening hungrily, Kagura couldn't keep herself from visibly shuddering.  "Why, I'd only give them a push in the right direction."

            Eyebrows knitting together, Kagura wondered how he was going to do this.  The only way to travel through time was by Kagome's well, and it only went to one time.  Destinations could not be altered – they had already tried.

            "The well is out of the question.  However, I have figured out a way to travel back.

            "While the miko can travel through time at her own will, the passage was originally ripped by the Shikon no Tama.  We simply have to rip a passage with our own portion of the jewel."

            "When are we traveling to?" Kagura asked.  It was a fair question; she wanted to know how far in the past she would be traveling.  There was no question about it, if Naraku was going to go back in time; he was going to take his servants along with him.

            "The question isn't so much _when_ we are going, but _where_."  Naraku chucked.  Kagura glared at him, willing him to answer his own question.  The answer would not come, though, without her asking it first.  _I hate those eyes…_

            "Where are we going, _Master_," she asked with fake sweetness.

            "India."

            The terrible sensation of the inability to breath woke the demon prince Kougaiji from his slumber.  Eyes flying open, he moved his hands to form a seal to destroy whatever was obstructing his breath, only to find that his little sister Lirin had jumped onto his chest.  "Kougaiji-oniisan!"  She whispered in a low voice, "You need to get up!  Okaasan is coming!"

            While he would have perferred Dokugakugi or Yaone to wake him in such an emergency (and in a less painful method, too), he didn't question his sister's words.  Refusing to admit that she had winded him, Kougaiji had to resisted the urge to massage his chest.  He had just gotten to his feet when his stepmother Gyoukumen Koushu flung the door wide open.

            Her usual superior attitude was gone, along with the relaxed demeanor she had by "always" being in control.  Eyes crazed in fury, her rage was pointed in the direction of her stepson, the prince.  Seeing that her daughter was also present in the room, she glared at the girl's half brother and forced herself to "calm down."  Gyoukumen Koushu did not "calm down."  It only looked like she wanted to see Kougaiji disappear into nothingness instead of flaying him over the deepest pits of Hell.

            "Lirin, I need you to leave.  I need to talk to your big brother about something," she said with forced sweetness.  Shaking her head defiantly and afraid for her brother's safety, she inched ever closer to the red haired demon.

            "Get out of his room _now_, Lirin _dear_," she said through clenched teeth.  At their angle, they could see her demonic fangs stand out among the rest of her canines and incisors.  _What in the hell happened that would make her loose her cool like this?_ Kougaiji wondered.  He was slightly amused; his whore of a stepmother could never hurt a hair on his head.  He was necessary for the resurrection of his father, Gyumaoh.  Inwardly he smiled.  _She wouldn't be able to hurt me even if I _was_ expendable.  She depends too much on others._  His smile grew as he felt his little sister grab onto his arm in defiance to her mother.  _How could Lirin be this woman's daughter?_  Gyoukumen Koushu did not have any redeeming qualities in Kougaiji's eyes.  There wasn't too many in their father's either, now that he thought about it.

            Making eye contact with Lirin out of the corner of his eye, Kougaiji gave a slow, small nod.  He'd be fine; she shouldn't have to worry about him.  Pouting, she stormed out of the room with her head held high.

            "Very good, daughter of mine," the Lady Koushu smiled acidly, "It is good that you are learning your manners."  As she turned back to face Kougaiji, she did not see her daughter stick out her tongue and lower her right eyelid with her finger.  Kougaiji focused on Lady Koushu's angry face to keep him from laughing at his sister's "comment" to her mother.  It was not only that, the idea of the great Demon Prince Kougaiji being reduced to a snickering idiot did not appeal to him.  As Lady Koushu closed the door, Kougaiji rolled his eyes.  Ah, younger siblings.  They could really be a pain in the ass.  _How the hell did Doku ever grow up with that ero kappa Gojyo?_  Thoughts of his friends and enemies were immediately pushed out of his mind as his step mother turned back to him.

            "Would you care to explain yourself?" she said in a dangerous voice.

            "Explain myself?" Kougaiji said with genuine curiosity.  _I've done everything she has told me to do.  Well, everything except…_

            "How dare you attack the Sanzo-ikkou without my consent?" she asked angrily.  "I told you to retrieve the _other_ sanzo's scripture, not attack them!  And then you came back, practically dead, and didn't even think to give me explanation!  EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

            Fear rose in the prince's heart at the memory.  With Yaone's medicine, he had been healed as good as new.  However, the chill of Son Goku's true form still plagued him.  He had been able to do _nothing_ against him.  Seitan Taisei, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Son Goku was no demon, he was the devil himself.  Dokugakugi was right when he described the youth as a monster.  Opening his mouth to explain, Kougaiji suddenly decided to change tactics.

            "We _did_ do what you told us to.  After reaching the desert, Dokugakugi and I began to look for the castle.  After an hour, we discovered a small dragon lying almost dead in the sand.  It appeared as if it had been trying to dig something out."

            "What does _this_ have to do with anything?" the she-fox asked hotly.  "Spare me the useless details."

            "Forgive me, _mother_, I was simply relaying my story," he said with mock respect.  She did not miss his sarcasm, but choose not to speak.  Her anger seemed to be growing with each moment.

            "Dokugakugi and I realized that the dragon belonged to the Sanzo-ikkou, and came to the conclusion that they were buried beneath the sand.  Shortly after this discovery, the ground began to shake, as if the desert was imploding.  I found out later that the castle within the sand had collapsed."  Here, he paused.  If his stepmother was to find out that he saved the Sanzo-ikkou himself, he did not want to think about how she would make life difficult for his friends.  They were allowed to suffer for the cause, even if he was not.  Then again, there was nothing wrong with a little white lie, or not telling all of the truth.  _Well, not in her case, anyways…_ he thought with a smile.

            "Hakkai – Cho," he caught himself, "created a dome with his chi, allowing them an escape route.  As the sand collapsed around them, they came into sight.  Dokugakugi and I had still been searching for an entrance, hoping that their ki could have lead us to it.

            "They had killed the scorpion demon within the castle in an attempt to find the missing scripture.  However, they had not been able to find it in time before the castle collapsed around them."

            Anger abating slightly, Gyoukumen Koushu glared at stepson.  "This doesn't explain why you attacked them.  You could have avoided all contact and continued to look for the scripture."

            "Do you really think that if they knew that we were nearby that they'd pass up a chance to try to figure out what is going on?"  _Might as well tell her what she wants to hear,_ he thought with cruel humor.  _Sanzo and his companions still don't know what is exactly going on.  Of course, they weren't in any condition to fight me at the time…_

            "And so _they_ engaged _you_, and you were forced to fight?" she asked dubiously.  _Let the witch believe what she wants to believe,_ he thought viciously.  Taking his silence as an affirmative, her mood seemed to lighten.

            "And what, were they too much for you?" she asked with a sarcastic sweetness.  "I could have sworn that Gyumaoh's heir wouldn't allow such pushovers to make a fool of himself.  When you got back, Doctor Nii said it looked like you had been greatly outnumbered.  Is two against four so bad?"

            _No, it was five against one._  "We grew weary from our search, Dokugakugi and I were not in our top forms.  It will not happen again."

            Appeased, Gyoukumen Koushu's face regained her superior smile.  "Well then, if you have finished recovering, I have a mission for you."

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Yay!  Second chapter is done!  Again, I'd appreciate any comments or criticisms you could give me.  Both help me to improve my writing.

-Iapetus__


	3. Promise

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  The only thing I own in this story is the way the two worlds have been twisted… *evil grin*

Again, please remember that the Inu Yasha storyline has gone AU.  The descriptions involving their changes in the past six years will be over soon… *sweatdrop* 

Review responses can be found on my live journal for January 8, 2004.  Thank you to everyone for reviewing!

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Chapter 3:  Promise

            Kagome awoke to the touch of soft fir against her face.  Opening her eyes, she saw her old cat Buyo nuzzling her cheek, purring the whole time.  Raising her right hand, she scratched the cat behind the ears, which only increased the volume of the cat's purring.  Sun streamed into her room, and Kagome blinked back the last remnants of sleep from her eyes.

            The sun… the sun reminded her of her dream the night before.  His hair was as golden as the crown on his head, as golden as the rays that touched it.  It was as if he was the model from which all other blondes vied to be like.  And his eyes…

            Jumping off her bed, Kagome looked out the window.  Yes, the lilac bush was blooming.  It was so hard to keep things straight in her time anymore.  She inhaled the sweet fragrance and closed her eyes to picture him better.  His eyes were the exact shade of purple that her lilac flowers were.  How strange that so soft an eye color could belong to a rebellious man… Kagome laughed at the irony of it all.  She had remembered how he hated tradition and rules as a kid.  Had he grown up to be the same way?

            The sound of her alarm clock broke her from her thoughts.  _I hate waking up before my alarm clock…_ she thought, annoyed.  Of course, after years of living outside with her friends, they had all learned to rise with the sun.  She turned the buzzer off, not wanting to wake the other members of her house before they had to.

            She found her supplies in the chair where she had left them the night before, completely ready for the day – no year – ahead.  As she had gotten older, she had learned to cope with less and less supplies from the present.  After completing high school, Kagome decided take a semester off, because the jewel was almost complete.  They were either going to complete it, or she'd die and would not have to worry about more school.  However, Kikyo had shattered Naraku's portion of the jewel, sending Kagome's hopes of a normal life and a college education right after high school down the drain.

            Despite not being in school, she was doing all right.  Needing money desperately, Kagome had started to write down the legends of demons that she encountered in the Era of Warring States.  Under a penname, she had published the book, and enjoyed moderate success.  Since she needed to stay by the well, and it would have cost too much money to have her own apartment when she never lived there, Kagome still lived at home.  Her friends assumed this was because of her various "illnesses," and came to visit whenever she was able to come back.  She didn't know how her grandfather was going to explain her yearlong absence that was about to take place.  He had run out of diseases years ago, so Kagome just began to suffer "relapses."

            However, when she started to write stories of her actual adventures in the Era of Warring States (with only her name changed) under the same penname, she became a national phenomenon.  Her editor begged her for her secret, but she refused to divulge any information.  It wasn't like anyone would believe her anyways.  Still, she was glad of the several contracts she signed and the lawyer she had ensuring her privacy.  She could not do stardom, "sickness" and her life in the past.

            Checking her supplies, she made sure for the third time that it was fresh, and that she had several pens.  The journal had been her tradition even before her decision to write about the past.  Fully awake now, she slipped on her pair of black dragon hide pants, as well as the matching bodice.  To the common man, it appeared as if she put on leather from head to toe.  However, dragon hide was much more sturdier than leather (some of the strongest armor available, even if it wasn't the fur of a Fire Rat), and much more flexible.  At least, it was when it was handled correctly.  Kagome was able to come across her own tailored outfit when a certain demon she saved insisted on returning the favor.  She had been hesitant to wear it at first, but she had grown to like the outfit.  It had also saved her life on several occasions.  Looking in the full-length mirror, she assessed how she had changed over the years.

            No longer was she the build of an ordinary schoolgirl.  Constant fighting for her life had forced her to train in several marital arts, and had honed her muscles to a lean look.  As she put on the matching dragon hide arm length gloves, she noted the calluses on her fingers from archery.  They were so hard, she wasn't sure if they would ever go away.

            Grabbing her over clothes, Kagome slipped them on quickly.  Deception was important in everything, and it wouldn't be good for her enemies to know she was wearing dragon hide.  The brown pants rested comfortably on her hips, as well as the matching brown tank top.  While her outfit wasn't completely historically accurate, the plain fabric that draped over her figure ever so slightly stood out less than her old school uniform.

            Kagome picked up her brush and ran it through her hair, which reached the small of her back.  One of the pleasure items she was allowing to be taken with her from her time was her brush.  Whenever they were to go into battle and actually were prepared for the fact, she would braid her hair and put it on top of her head.  A couple tendrils from the sides of her face would remain, but that was all.

            Turning to her equipment, she made a quick assessment.  Everything was there:  her bow, quiver, weapons belt, kodachi, and dagger.  After the Mask of Flesh incident so long ago, there had been other demons that had come after her in the present.  She had to be prepared no matter what time she was in, and so always took her weapons everywhere.

            _I don't need to strap them on yet, though,_ she thought to herself.  _I'm not leaving until after Breakfast._

            Slipping into the hallway, she passed her younger brother's room.  Souta was now sixteen years old, and going to high school.  She smiled as she saw him holding a dog-eared copy of her first book in his sleeping hands.  How many times had she told him stories of the past?  Did he never get tired of them?

            Buyo ran past her legs and jumped onto the young man's lap.  He woke suddenly, seemingly used to this action.  Kagome went to move out of the doorway, so as to not appear as if she was spying, but his laugh stopped her.

            "C'mon sis," he chuckled softly, "Don't leave yet…"

            She walked in and closed the door.  "I'm not leaving yet, Souta.  Not until after Breakfast."

            "I know, but it looks like you want to leave now…" he said with sadness.

            "I don't know what I want anymore, really, little brother," she said with equal sadness.  "I miss you and mom and grandpa when I'm gone, but I miss my friends when I'm here…"

            "I wonder if the Centipede Woman knew what she was doing when she dragged you through the Well," Souta pondered for the thousandth time.  "If it wasn't for her…"

            "…I'd have a normal life," she finished his sentence.

            "It's funny having a sister who is "sick" all the time," he chuckled.  "There are some kids that won't come near me for fear of getting some deadly illness."

            "Isn't your attendance record perfect?" Kagome questioned.

            "Five years running!" he said with mock enthusiasm.  "I hate not faking sick, but I know the school will go ballistic, thinking that I'm coming down with the "Higurashi illness."  Of course, that might be fun…" he smiled evilly, then changed his mind.

            "Nah, that wouldn't be fair to Mom."

            Kagome felt a pang in her heart at the thought of their mother.  She had suffered greatly through these long six years, not knowing if her daughter would come back through the well with each time she left.  It was draining on the woman, not being able to protect her daughter.

            Sitting down on the edge of his bed, she grabbed her younger brother's hand and squeezed it gently.  "Will you take care of Mom and Gramps for me?  I should really be there for them right now, especially with Gramps health…"

            "Why did you ask?" Souta sounded offended.  "I'd do it even if you said nothing."

            Ruffling the boy's hair, she leaned over and gave him a hug.  Souta, who had learned to appreciate his sister more than his friends did with _their_ siblings, did not shy away at the expression of affection.  She knew this was hard for him.  Most of the time, she'd only be gone for a week or two, at most a month.  She was going to be gone a _year_, and there was no going back.  If she did not come back after a year… their grandfather would "pull the plug" on his dear granddaughter, and she would die to the modern world as well as in the past.

            For her family's sake more than anyone else, Kagome prayed for her quest's completion.  The last thing she wanted to do was to break their hearts.

            "Mission?" he asked dubiously.  Kougaiji didn't like how her angry mood seemed to evaporate, even if it did mean he was able to stop listening to the annoying wining sound Gyoukumen Koushu's voice made when she was angry.

            "Yes," she smiled slowly, "a mission.  That is, if you are in "top form" again?"

            He didn't miss the jab at his honor.  Still, he would not rise to her bait.  Seeing that he was in no mood to play, she pulled out a map of Tougenkyou and continued.

            "Doctor Nii has informed me that there is an unusual disturbance gathering around this area," she indicated on the map with a finger.  The demons there do not have human forms, and appear oblivious to the minus wave." She smirked at the statement.  "Not that it would matter, they have a bloodlust all their own, and do not mind eating humans to their hearts content."

            _Formless demons immune to the minus wave, _and_ with bloodlust?_ Kougaiji thought, confused.  In Tougenkyou, formless demons did exist, but they couldn't harm a fly, much less kill humans.

            "I sent out a team of assassins to try to distinguish what they were, but they weren't able to figure anything out.  I highly doubt that they would be a cause of concern, but I want you to go investigate anyways.  You may take anyone you want with you, except Lirin.  She is to stay here."

            Kougaiji eyed his stepmother with distaste.  The woman had no love for her daughter – that act could not fool him.  It never had, and it never would.  He knew that the only reason she cared for the girl's safety was because she was essential in the plan to resurrect their father.  Kougaiji made a mental note for him to get Yaone to take her somewhere "fun" outside of the castle once he and Doku were gone – he wanted his own eyes on her at all times.  The day he'd trust Koushu to care for his little sister would be the day he'd betray his own _real_ mother.  The Demon Prince would not be contained; he would do things his own way.

            Lady Koushu opened the bedroom door to let herself out.  Then, she dramatically turned back to where the red haired demon was standing and grinned.

            "_Do _be careful while you are out there.  We wouldn't want you "outnumbered" again."  Eyes narrowing, she continued.  "However, if and when you get injured in the future, I want you to come to Doctor Nii.  Technology can heal you much better than any of those potions can."  With that, she closed the door of the irate prince's bedroom.

            _Like I'd let that bastard lay a finger on me,_ he thought severely.  _Healing with potions and herbs are the best for the body, and she knows it.  What the hell is she trying to do?_

            Kougaiji had to wait a few minutes so he could be sure that Lady Koushu would not see his incessant fuming as he walked out of his room.  It was close to the time that he was planning on meeting with his group anyways, so he headed to the one place where they would not be overheard.

            He was only half way there when a junior level demon called out his name.

            "Excuse me, Lord Kougaiji!" the demon sounded almost afraid of approaching the prince.

            "What is it?" he asked curtly.  His emotions were nearing dangerously high levels, and he needed to vent badly.  When he saw the demon draw back in fear, he forced himself to relax.  This demon didn't deserve the brunt of his aggression.

            "What is it?" he asked again in a calmer, more polite voice.

            "I'm sorry for disturbing you, Lord Kougaiji," the man bowed, "but I was ordered to have this note delivered to you.  I was to make sure that you read it."  He handed out the note, folded and sealed with the wax of a Silver Wasp.  It was from the head of the assassins.

            Breaking the seal, he looked at the contents.

Lord Kougaiji:

            I have always been at your disposal, as well as all the demons under my command.  However, I could not ignore the order that Lady Koushu gave me.  She "insisted" that I send the Kuromaru squad to investigate the coordinates below.  When only half of them came back, I immediately wrote this letter to you in hopes that it would reach you before our Lady.

_What the hell?  _he thought furiously.  _Koushu didn't say anything about loosing half of a squad…_

            My Lord, forgive me for not resisting further.  We lost a lot of good men, and I take full responsibility for the failure.  If you wish to speak to the survivors, all fifty of them are in the infirmary, and out of critical condition.  There were none who escaped injury.  However, Lady Yaone's skills would be appreciated if you could spare them.  Again, my deepest condolences, my lord.

Your Faithful Servant,

General Gekidoku no Kiba

            As he opened the door to his mother's pillarist prison, anger burned yet again in his veins as he beheld the statue-like figure before him.  He hated calling the Gyumaoh wife wannabe that was Gyoukumen Koushu his "mother."  True wife of Gyumaoh, Rasetsunyo, was everything Lady Koushu was not:  kind, caring, loving, trustworthy and honorable.  The Lady Koushu deserved to be imprisoned in the pillar, not his dear mother.  However, the Fighting God Crown Prince Nataku saw only his father, his mother, and himself as a threat.  Making yet another silent vow to free his precious mother, Kougaiji let his attention shift to the one in front of him.

            Lirin had run up to him the moment he had entered the room.  She was apprehensive, vexed, and curious all at the same time.

            "What did Okaasan say?" she prodded.  "I haven't seen her so mad since… Wait, I don't think I've ever seen her that mad before."

            "What did she say?" Dokugakugi inqired.  

            "She often doesn't mind yelling at you in front of me…" Lirin thought to herself.

            "Lady Lirin!" Yaone said reproachfully.  "Don't disrespect your older brother by saying such things!"

            "But it's true…" the younger demon protested, but was quickly quieted down by the look Yaone gave her.

            "She was 'upset,'" he said carefully, "About Doku and I attacking the Sanzo-ikkou."  Free from the gaze of the witch, Kougaiji was able to shudder freely, even if it was slight, at the recollection of the memory.  He noticed Dokugakugi also shudder.  While the man had not been as seriously injured as himself, he knew that his friend still blamed himself for his helplessness against the Devil.

            "Shouldn't she be worried?" Lirin demanded, "You almost died!"

            _She cares more about me than she cares about you…_ he thought bitterly.  They were only pawns, and because he was her husband's heir, he was one of the most important pieces on the board.  Kougaiji hated being anyone's piece, even if he was more than a pawn.  _Still, a mother should care about her daughter… why did Lirin have to have Koushu as a mother?_

            "She was worried that I was taking "unnecessary risks."  I told her it was a misunderstanding."

            "What didn't you say?" Doku asked seriously.

            "Almost everything.  According to her knowledge, I didn't save them, I didn't challenge Goku, and he didn't transform into the Great Sage."

            Yaone's eyes widened.  "Almost everything?  That is the whole story!"

            Doku chuckled.  "Did you mix a few white lies in with all of the holes?"

            Kougaiji smirked.  "Of course.  Anyways, she gave us another mission."  He shifted his eyes to his beautiful apothecary.  "Yaone, when we leave, I want you to take Lirin out to one of your more secluded herbal fields and have her help you harvest herbs."

            "As you wish, Lord Kougaiji," Yaone said slowly, "I have enough supplies right now… but I can get more."

            "But I want to go with you, Kougaiji-oniisan!" Lirin said loudly.  "I couldn't go last time, and look what happened!  Maybe I could have done something for you!"

            "Lirin, I am glad you _weren't_ there for that reason.  You don't understand, Goku did not recognize any of us.  He even attacked his own companions.  He would have hurt you too.  You would not have been able to do anything about it."  She made move to protest again, but he continued.

            "Her specific orders were for you not to come with me.  I want you out of this castle when I am not here, and somewhere where she cannot reach you.  Yaone knows those fields better than anyone.  Make sure that one of us is always with you.  Your mother is up to something besides resurrecting Father, and I want you to stay out of it."

            Lirin's face fell, but slowly nodded an affirmative.  Kougaiji changed his gaze again, this time to Doku.

            "You and I need to get going as soon as possible," he said curtly.  "Yaone, I need you to go to the infirmary before we go and check up on the patients for me.  Lady Koushu sent a squad of assassins without my consent to investigate and only half of them came back."

            "Which squad was it?" Yaone asked, concerned.

            "Kiba said it was the Kuromaru squad."

            "But that squad had over a hundred members in it!" Lirin said, startled.

            "Fifty are still alive."

            Silence reigned for a whole minute before anyone could respond.

            "Come on, Lady Lirin, we need to get going if were going to stop by the infirmary and leave without your mother noticing."  Yaone grabbed the younger girl's hand and pulled her towards the door.  

            "Please be careful, my lord," the female demon said quietly as she left.

            "Oy!  Higurashi!"

            Souta stopped walking as he heard his name called.  He glanced at his watch, and noted that class didn't start until at least tem more minutes.  _Well,_ he thought, _that's if Yamada-sensei isn't late again_.

            The person who had caught up to him was his close friend, Nagashima Yuuko.  On a normal day, he would have sought her out along with his other friends – Fujiwara Rika, Tabuse Sakura, Kawasaki Satoru, and Akahori Akira.  But now, Souta was still depressed about the departure of his elder sister.  He knew that she could take care of herself, and that Inu Yasha and her other friends would never let his sister come to harm.  But, he was the man of the house – he should be the one protecting his sister and his family, not the other way around.

            His father had told him to be strong, and to watch over the family.  When the Centipede Demon pulled his sister into the Bone Gobbling Well the first time, his father's request came vividly back into his head.  He had begged his mother to allow him to take up a martial art.  When he had seen Inu Yasha begin to carry a sword, he knew he wanted to take up kendo.

            Souta was now a member of the Iyaido club at school – where they fought with actual bokkens and not a practice sword.  Because of his previous five years of training in a dojo, Souta was in the higher levels of the club.  So as not to show the others up, he rarely put out his full potential.  He saved that for when he was training at the dojo.  His master told him it was a shame that he had been born in the present, because he said the boy had the potential to be a great warrior.  When he thought of the original reason for taking up the sword, he would simply nod and smile.  His mission was not to be a warrior, but a protector.

            "Are you alright, Higurashi?" Yuuko asked in a concerned voice.  Souta's mind drifted back to the present, and he smiled sadly.

            "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied.  "I'm just…" He struggled to come up with an excuse for his melancholy.

            "It's your sister, isn't it?" she said softly.

            "How do you know?" he asked, shocked that she had guessed correctly.

            "Well, I know that her health isn't good – did she take a turn for the worse?"

            Souta struggled not to laugh out loud.  _How is it that everyone buys the lie that she is sick?  Every time she is here she is always "healthy"…_  Still, he had to stick to the lie.

            "Yeah, it's really serious this time," he bit his lip.  He hated lying to his friends like this.  Taking a deep breath, he continued.  "Grandpa and Mom put her in a special hospital in the United States, and we're hoping that they can solve the problem."

            "I'm so sorry, Higurashi," Yuuko said sadly.  "Now you won't be able to even visit her on a regular basis…"

            _What are you talking about, Yuuko?_ He thought bitterly.  _I can't see her at all now._  Souta simply replied with a "Yeah," and continued to walk towards their classes.  He didn't feel like talking to anyone right now.

            Yuuko could tell that he needed his space, and decided to back off.  However, before she left, she asked pleadingly, "Is there anything I can do for her?"

            Souta caught a sob in his throat.  _I can't cry!  I have to stay strong!_  "Please pray for her safety," he requested quietly.

            "Safety?" Yuuko asked puzzled.  Souta could tell that his mouth had slipped, and wondered how he was supposed to recover this.

            "Oh, do you mean safe travels to the United States?" she asked innocently.  He nodded, hating the lie even more.

            "All right, Higurashi," she smiled sadly as well.  "But remember, you can always talk to me about it."

            _Believe me, Yuuko,_ _I wish I could…_ "Thanks, Nagashima."

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If you would like to know when this story is updated, please let me know in your review and leave your e-mail address.  I hope to update on a regular basis, but you never know what might happen.

Comments and criticisms appreciated!  See you in chapter four!

-Iapetus


	4. Vacancy

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  I still do not own either series.  Suing me won't do any good – I don't have any money.

By request, I have included Kagome's goodbye to her family.  However, the end result was a huge amount of text from Kagome's POV.  Do not worry, though, there is plenty Saiyuki goodness to go around.  I didn't realize until Konzen mentioned it in a review that I hadn't really had the other members of the Sanzo-ikkou make much of an appearance.  *Sweatdrop* Believe me, they WILL be in the story.

Review responses can be found in my Live Journal for January 12.  Thank you for everyone's support!

**Essential Japanese: **

_Jan-ken-po-_ Rock-paper-scissors

_Hiraikotsu-_ Sango's boomerang

_Sengoku Jidai-_ era of warring states

_Kitsune-_ fox, often assumed to also be "fox demon"

_Kazaana-_ the Wind Tunnel, or Hellhole, in Miroku's right hand

_Maa maa-_ what Hakkai says when he's trying to get the others to calm down

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Chapter 4:  Vacancy

*_Earlier that morning_*

            Kagome glanced at the clock on the wall.  It was getting closer to the time she'd have to leave, whether breakfast was over or not.  The others understood how hard this was for her – to leave her family with the knowledge that there was a good chance she would not come back.  But Higurashi Kagome did not break her promises, especially when there was so much at stake.

            The thought of her family brought a bitter taste to her mouth.  _She_ had a family.  The others did not.  Well, not any they could really fall back on for support.  Sango's younger brother was still a slave to Naraku's magic, a soulless puppet doing only his master's will.  She took that back, Kohaku was _almost_ always a soulless puppet.  There were times he escaped the spell, but he could not remember himself or his sister…

            It was never spoken on the whereabouts of Miroku's mother, but Kagome assumed that she had died early in the monk's life.  His father, obviously, had died of the Kazaana that plagued their family.  The Thunder Brothers had killed Shippo's parents.  During his coming of age, the Inu-ikkou had met Shippo's uncles, but apparently the tribe had split before Shippo's birth, so he was technically not a member of that branch of the clan anymore.  The uncles were simply performing their blood right to their brother's heir, in his memory.  After the kitsune had passed his test, they left him to his own devices.  Not that the fox demon had minded – he had been traveling with Inu Yasha and the rest of them for two years at that point.

            Inu Yasha had apparently never gotten along with his brother even when they were children, but the hatred she had once seen in the two seemed to have ebbed slightly.  They still wanted to kill each other, but they didn't try to do so as often.  The abated anger was evident when Sesshomaru had recovered his original demon limb from their demon father's tomb.  The demon lord had just gotten up and left, seemingly happy with his acquisition, and simply left his brother wondering what had actually happened.  He had healed the limb partially with the power of a Shikon shard, and still had this particular part of the jewel in his possession.

            Kagome could tell that Sesshomaru hated to admit he needed help in the healing of his arm – he believed he was powerful enough without it.  But as long as his arm rejected his own flesh… although the process was slowly healing him.  She shuddered at the memory of him regaining his limb – the dog demon was much more fierce when he could fight with an arm he had extensive experience using.

            "Kagome, would you like more orange juice?" her mother asked politely, breaking the young woman out of her thoughts.

            "Yes please," she answered politely.  The truth was, she was full.  However, when she looked into her mother's helpless gaze, she knew she needed to do this.  _I feel like I'm having my last meal before being sent off to battle…_  Of course, that was what it was.  Well, kind of.  They weren't going to _immediately_ engage Naraku, but Kagome knew that there was bound to be a long day ahead of her on the road.  Her mother handed her the juice, which Kagome decided to drink slowly.  _Who knows when I'll have orange juice next…_

            She noted her grandfather's nervousness to her side.  True, they were all high strung, but he had the most difficult job of them all.  To help contain the demons from possibly coming though to their time when she could not protect them, Kagome's grandfather was going to use _special_ scrolls to seal off the well.  He would remove them in a year's time, but not until then.  Kaede and Miroku blessed the scrolls themselves, so Kagome knew that they were sure to work.  She wouldn't be able to get back even if she tried before then.  The entrance would be sealed in the Sengoku Jidai as well.

            Even Buyo seemed subdued, not even begging the family for the bacon and cheese on the table.  Kagome wanted to cry – so much had changed.  Why were they looking at her like she was a ghost?  _I'm still here!_ She mentally wailed.  _I'm not dead!_

            Everyone but Souta was saddened by the mood; her brother seemed more subdued than anything else.  He was trying to hide his feelings for the sake of their mother, and herself.  Kagome always knew that the young boy was jealous of his sister's adventures.  He longed for her to bring Inu Yasha along, or to just jump into the well and meet the rest of her friends.  He had started to take kendo lessons almost immediately after she fell through the well, insisting that he would at least protect their family in her absence.  He was the man of the house, after all, since the death of their father.  Now, through hard work and dedication, he had become an unofficial kendo master, as well as a demon slayer.

            Kagome had realized when her senses grew sharp enough, that Souta had a power similar (in a very small way) to her own.  He did not have the power that she did to purify youki, but he had the potential to be a powerful priest.  How had he gotten this power?  Had it stemmed off of her?  Because it was obvious that their grandfather did not have the aura of a priest – despite the fact that he was one.  It has still made Kagome feel better, though, to know that someone would be there to protect them.

            'Oy, Kagome!" Souta touched her arm, again shaking her from her thoughts.  "It's ten to ten."

            Kagome finished the last of her juice in one gulp.  "Thank you for the meal," she said politely, and rose from her seat.  Her weapons belt sat on the chair at the far side of the room.  Picking it up, she tightened the strap around her waist and fastened it securely.  She then picked up her kodachi and put the sheath in the empty loop, checking its snugness.  Following example with the dagger at her right side, Kagome felt again like a soldier going off to battle.  She was about to pull the quiver around her head when her mother started to cry.

            Kagome was going to have waited until she was completely ready to say her goodbyes, but she knew that the time was now.  Kneeling next to her mom, she made a motion to rub her back in support.  At the touch of her daughter's hand, the crying woman could not hold it in anymore.  Kagome let her mother cry in her arms, forcing tears of her own to stay back.  She could tell that her grandfather was trying to do the same.  Souta walked over and rubbed his mother's back along with his sister.  This made her seem to only sob harder, but the both of them seemed to wordlessly agree – their mother needed this.

            "Mom," Kagome said quietly.  She waited until her sobbing had relaxed, and looked into her mother's tear-filled eyes.  "I'll be ok, I promise."  Her mother smiled weakly.  She knew that Kagome hated breaking promises.  It wasn't in her character.

            "But Mom," she said with a hint of humor in her voice, "Will you make some of your world-famous oden for me when I get back?"  Kagome had said the magical phrase.  The four of them laughed at the absurd request.  They always had oden when Kagome came home.  Souta had told his sister awhile back that they didn't have it any other time.  It had become tradition.

            "Some things never change, do they Gramps?" Souta said with a smirk.

            "No, I don't believe they do, my boy," he responded with a chuckle.

*_Present time_*

            Leaving her family in significantly better spirits, Kagome bid one last look at the temple grounds.  They were swept clean, and looked how it always did.  The wind blew, catching her long hair as her childhood flashed back to her.  The wind also blew the gentle sent of lilac, and Kagome thought of how much her dream world looked like her home.  _What brought that on?_ She thought.  One minute she was thinking of home, and the next moment she was thinking of something that didn't seem to be real.

            Why was it that she felt as though something was about to happen?  Something was always happening, and she knew that she would see many unusual things in the near future.  The past was never boring, and it never ceased to amaze her.  But why… _why_ could she not take her mind off it?  Memory filled of the blonde priest of her dreams.

            _I can't think of him now.  I have more important stuff to deal with._  Resolute, she swung her quiver around her back, grabbed her bow, and jumped into the well – not looking back.

            "What do you make of it, Doku?" Kougaiji inquired of his second in command.  They were at the location in question – a field filled with wildflowers.  Well, that was only partly true – it was full of flowers and demon corpses.  They had been _his_ men, and how he couldn't even recognize them.  He knew by scent, and by location.

            The flowers were red, an appropriate color for those who shed their blood here.  But where was the presence that had slain them all?  Where was his men's killer?  _WHO could have killed half the Kuromaru squad that I would not know of?_  Kougaiji knew that not all demons had come to Koushu's side when the minus wave was released throughout the land, but he had spies that kept eyes on the renegades.  As long as they did not interfere with the she-fox's plans, the Demon Prince could care less what they did.

            Eyeing his Second in Command, he walked over to where Dokugakugi was kneeling.  There was an unusual set of tracks in the ground, as if make by a gigantic centipede.  Other foreign tracks scattered themselves over the field.  Their scent, while slightly cold, was unfamiliar too.  

            "Demons don't move like this, Kou," Doku said seriously.  "Animals do.  Insects do.

            "The report said that they were slaughtered by a horde of demons.  How could we NOT know about a horde of demons, especially in this area?"  Doku rose to his feet and looked out across the field.

            "Yaone used to use this field for some of her healing powders," the prince remarked quietly.  "Luckily, this isn't the only field with flowers she would use for those medicines."

            "Does she know that one of her fields was the location we were talking about?" Doku inquired.

            "I had to tell her.  Yaone was originally going to take Lirin here.  She decided on a field in the opposite direction.  She would have found out soon enough, anyways."

            The two demon men remained silent for a while, walking around to further examine the landscape.  As they traced the footsteps of many personal battles, they saw that there were no human shaped demon attackers.  While non-human shaped demons did exist in the world, they were few and far between.  _I would have known if a horde existed in this area, even if Koushu did not._ He thought to himself.  _Yaone would have known if there was a demon horde near one of her fields.  She would have told me._

            The air also didn't _feel_ right.  It was as if an unseen force was pulling at the air, and at the very fabric of their dimension.  The demon price couldn't place it, and decided to inquire about it to his second in command.

            "Doku, do you feel that?" he asked quietly.

            "This place isn't right," he agreed.  "It didn't feel like this before – we've all come to help Yaone here on occasion with her herb harvesting.  This was a peaceful area."

            "It was one of the reasons the herbs and flowers grew so well – there were no disturbances," Kougaiji commented.

            Doku nodded, and walked over to where his prince was standing.  "Kou, whoever did this is gone.  I'd suggest we check more of Yaone's fields, but there isn't any more in this area.  They seemed to have headed north into the forest."

            "I was thinking that too," Kougaiji agreed.  He unconsciously cracked his knuckles in anticipation.  _I want to find out how and WHY this happened…_

            As Kagome hoisted herself out of the well, she could tell that they had been waiting for a while.  The group was much more solemn than what she was used to.  True, they had all matured, as they grew older, but her little brother was right – some things would never change.

            Miroku was still in his priestly robes, and he still had the same staff from his youth.  It was now _slightly_ rough to look at, but that only held true if you were close to him.  He had been offered new ones by various monks from monasteries they had resided in for a night, but he declined each one.  Apparently, it had once belonged to his grandfather.  The prayer bead still bound his right arm, sealing the Kazaana until he called upon it.  Kagome chuckled at the memory of a monastery chastising him for not wearing his prayer beads around his neck.  However, when he had shown them why… A few trees from the forest near them no longer existed.  They had agreed in the end that Miroku was an exception to the rule.  His hair had always been drawn back into a small ponytail, but now the hair was significantly longer.  Kagome had to admit that the ponytail suited him well, and they had had to pull the monk away from women on several occasions, because they now found him desirable.  Any woman who so much as even considered agreeing to the monk's proposal, however, would be at the business end of Sango's hiraikotsu.

            Sango's hair had also grown, and she wore it loosely around her shoulders as she always did when she dressed casually.  The woman's face had not changed much, only the grown version of the girl she once was.  Her boomerang was slung across her back, the only obvious weapon on her person.  Kagome knew better, for the woman was a walking arsenal.  How she was able to hide her kodachi under those robes Kagome didn't think she'd ever know.

            Shippo had changed the most of them all.  When they had first found the fox demon after being orphaned by the Thunder Brothers, Kagome had not known that he was reaching his growth spurt.  Kagome did not understand very well how demons grew up, only that many of their offspring were disproportionate to the age their human counterparts were.  Shippo had been eight years old they found him, but now he was considered an adult fox demon.  He was the same size of Souta, and somehow vaguely reminded Kagome of Inu Yasha when she first met him.  He was as tall Inu Yasha used to be, and she knew that he had not stopped growing.  At his left side, she saw the kitsune's memento of his coming of age – the Keitou Shakaku – his favorite dagger.  He was not to use it often, though, because a fox demon was supposed to be able to fight with their foxfire before using any other kind of weapons.  It was still an amazing weapon, however, and few kistune had the opportunity to wield it.  _But that is another story…_ she thought with a smile.  Shippo did not tie his orange hair back with a ribbon and bow anymore, but by a braided cord Kagome had made a long time ago to help keep him from getting lost.  She had poured her energy into the strings, and could call to them when she couldn't find the younger demon.  He'd be able to follow the direction the cord had wanted him to go, and it made it easier to congregate as a group in emergency situations.  As an adult demon, however, his senses were heightened enough that he did not need them anymore.  He still wore it, however, out of tradition, respect, and love for his elder sister-like figure.

            Kagome smiled as she looked at the man she loved.  While they could not act on their feelings, they (as well as Miroku and Sango) had promised not to get romantically involved with the other until Naraku had been dealt with.  That had been years ago, unfortunately, and the strain was growing on the young lovers.  But they knew that the moment they officially declared their love in some fashion, Naraku would exploit it.  He needed to believe that they only cared for each other as much as just an ordinary comrade.  Inu Yasha, while still retaining his sense of self, seemed to look slightly like his elder brother Sesshomaru every day.  His features were not as sharp, and he did not have the same markings as the full-blooded demon, but no one could look at the two and NOT see the fact that they were related.  He had grown several inches, and seemed to fill in his robes better.  He had always seemed to be swimming in them before, but now they fit his figure like they were made to.  He had no new weapons – his father's sword the Tetsusaiga was always at his left side.  He had always had his claws and fists as well, and Kagome knew that those were enough for the half demon.

            Inu Yasha seemed ready to shout out a complaint to Kagome for being late, but noticed her tear stained shirt and changed his mind.  She was glad that he was maturing – he knew what it was to loose his family.  Kagome was leaving them willingly, which made the decision seem so much harder.

            "Are you ready?" he said simply.

            The young priestess forced herself not to cry.  They didn't have time for that, despite what they'd say if she truly broke down.  "Let's go."

            _I was the one who shattered the Shikon no Tama; it is my responsibility to complete it.  I can't be thinking of myself right now…_

            The small town's inn had only one vacancy.  After much argument, two rollaway beds had been brought in for the weary travelers, who seemed about ready to kill each other.  Well, a short brunette and a tall red head, anyways.

            "I get this bed because I sat down on it first!" Son Goku protested.  "That makes it mine!"

            "I'm not sleeping with your stupid feet in my face!" Sha Gojyo retorted.  "Your snoring is hard enough to deal with!"  The half demon went to "nudge" Goku off the bed, but the boy would not let go.  "You stupid monkey!  Your going to get it infested with fleas!"

            "Maa maa," Cho Hakkai interjected, trying to break up the two.  "Lets relax for awhile and not argue…."

            But Goku wouldn't listen.  "I DON'T HAVE FLEAS!" he yelled back.  "If you don't move, you're going to wet the bed, you perverted water sprite!"

            "Me?  A bedwetting problem?"  He chuckled.  "Well, I guess you could say that monkey, but the difference is that others _want_ me to wet their bed."

            Hakkai sighed something about "too much information" and shook his head in defeat.****

            At the window, Sanzo was quietly trying to enjoy a cigarette.  He didn't know how they did it, but both Goku and Gojyo picked the most inopportune times to annoy him.  Of course, these "most inopportune times" were almost all the time, and his patience grew thinner by the day.  This trip was going to be the end of him…

            "Maa maa, why don't you two jan ken po for it?" Hakkai suggested.  The two men decided this would be a _brilliant_ idea, and stood to face each other.

            Sanzo watched with quiet amusement at his ward's determined face.  Not that he cared where the monkey slept or how he got his bed, as long as he'd just shut up.  Knowing Gojyo, though, Sanzo knew that he'd win their "sparring" match for the bed, and that soon the monkey would complain to him about the situation.

            "Jan – ken – po!" they both shouted, throwing down their hands.  Goku had thrown scissors, and Gojyo threw rock.  It was the same every time.  Didn't the monkey learn?

            "Best two out of three!" the young man shouted.  Hakkai cracked a smile towards the two as the same results came out again.

            "This is bullshit!" Goku complained.  "Best three out of five!"

            "Goku, please keep it down, this inn is full right how," Hakkai struggled in the attempt to quiet them.

            "Get off the bed, monkey," Gojyo said with a tone of mock superiority.

            "I'm not a monkey!  Sanzo-" the demon's complaint was cut short by sudden survival instincts as he tried to avoid the priest's paper fan.

            "Oww!" He complained as he rubbed his head.  "Sanzo…"

            "Get out of his bed, you stupid monkey," he spoke shortly.

            "But Sanzo…"

            He could feel a vein throb in his forehead.  _They've been fighting all day… can't they give it a rest?_  

            "You heard your master, monkey."

            "Stop calling me that!"

              His question was answered by Goku throwing a punch in Gojyo's direction in result of the kappa making faces at him.

            "SHUT UP!" Sanzo roared, bringing immediate silence to the room.  "Goku, you are going to get out of Gojyo's bed RIGHT NOW, sit your ass in your own bed and LIKE IT."  They we're leaving early tomorrow, and the last thing he need were for the whole group to be sleep deprived.  He shuddered at the thought.  Two grumpy demons in the back seat could rival two small children in close proximity on a road trip.  It wasn't as if Hakkai's constant smile helped matters much either…

            Goku looked hesitant, but complied to his master's wishes and sat down on the vacant bed.  Gojyo knew better than to gloat now, so resolved to lie back on the bed he won – smiling as he closed his eyes.  Hakkai seemed glad to have a small sense of peace permeate in the room, even if it was forced.

            Sanzo continued to look out the window as he ground the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray.  Lighting up a new cylinder, the priest thought back to the dream he had the night before.  It had been different than the one from two nights ago – this time they had been able to talk to each other…

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Please to not shoot me… the original version of chapter four was around 14 pages single spaced on Microsoft Word… and I hate having that much to scroll through when reading something on FF.net.  As a result, I cut it in half… but don't worry; you'll be able to see it in the next chapter.

Comments and criticisms appreciated!  Thanks for reading!

-Iapetus


	5. Retrieve

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  Nah, I don't own either series.

Review responses for this chapter can be found on my Live Journal for January 15.  Thank you for reviewing, and if you haven't already, please review!

This chapter is, in spirit, the second half of chapter four.  Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoy it!

**Essential Japanese (only one word this time):**  Imouto = little sister

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Chapter 5:  Retrieve

            Silently floating on her giant feather, Kagura looked over the fields for her goal.  Naraku had commanded her to bring "an item of the miko's," and he didn't care how she did it.

            "Damnit Naraku, that's easier said than done," she cursed to herself.  She'd have to go ahead of them and kill the people in the village that they would pass by, so she could put them under her power.  Of course, that posed the problem of the dratted half demon's nose.  He could smell her a mile away, as long as she was downwind.  Shifting the wind so she could get the village quicker would only give her away.

            "Then again…" she changed her direction to head towards the Bone Gobbling Well.  On Naraku's orders, she had one day tried to travel though when Kagome was on the other side.  It hadn't worked – she touched solid ground and saw the same sky above her head.  But the "miko" might have left something around there…

            Kagura touched down, sent her feather away, and looked at amusement as the sealed well.  So, they were going to try to keep demons away from the woman's time.  She had heard much later that a mere centipede demon had made it though the boundaries of time and pulled the miko here.  _If a centipede demon could have done it, why not others?  Why couldn't _I _do it?_  The logic didn't make any sense.

            _I wonder how the well's defenses are like now…_ summoning a small feather; she blew it with her wind to settle on the well.  The light object, filled with her youki, immediately caught fire and burnt to a crisp.  The seals were not ordinary seals; they were the best of their kind.  No demon would be able to get in or out with their power burned away from themselves.  _I'll bet the monk put them on himself…_

            Carefully keeping her distance, Kagura circled the well, inspecting every inch of the ground.  She used the wind to stir the grass, attempting to reveal anything that might be obstructed from her vision.  _The girl should have dropped _something_…_

            Her eye caught a glimpse of white among the green, and knew that she had succeeded.  Sending down another feather, Kagura made sure that it was safe to pick up.  When she did, she marveled at the item.

            It was a thin cylinder close to the length of her hand, with black writing on the side.  The writing appeared to be engraved as well.  There was a removable black top to the white cylinder, which came to a point.  What this object was, Kagura had no idea.  She only knew that it was foreign.  Whether Naraku would find it to his liking she did not know, but it looked like it could work.

            She sighed a breath of relief.  Today, at least, she wouldn't have to deal with the idiotic half demon and his companions.

            The path he walked had been the same from his childhood dream realm, and was the same as the night before.  The grass was green and luscious, a shade one rarely got in the violence-torn world he now lived in.

            The temple was across the river from where they always were, and he was reminded strongly of the temple he grew up in.  But still, there slight changes to the landscape, and the temple didn't just feel like home.  It was almost as if he had walked into a reflection, and was seeing everything backwards of what it really should be.

            The woman was at the bank again, this time leaning her back against an ancient looking tree.  She was staring out at the water again, a sad smile laid on her face at some unseen memory.  _She must be calling to me.  _He didn't understand why she was acting like this.  _It isn't like her…_****

            He wasn't exactly sure how to go about this.  How does one greet someone they had not seen in years?  It wasn't simply that, they were kids the last time they had "talked."  She was obviously a woman, and if his memory served him right, she was two years his junior.

            He raised his eyebrows slightly as his approach was not noted.  As a child the girl had always had amazingly sharp senses, being able to find him wherever he hid.  He didn't know how she was able to do it, but he had been the same way.  Sanzo had never been able to hide from the girl, and he was never able to seem to keep himself from finding her.  They had the same kind of power; he could feel it in their chi.

            A single tear fell down her smooth cheek, and the woman used the sleeve of her robe to dry her face.  Her robes never changed, unlike his.  He used to wear the short robes of an apprentice monk, but he now donned his normal attire suitable to his high rank.  By the look of her face as she eyed her garments, he could tell that she hated them about as much as he hated his own.  Was she pushed into this position like he had been?  He had never asked for the title of Sanzo – he had simply wanted a different name than "Kouryuu the river rat."

            As she dried her face, she caught the priest in her peripheral vision, and immediately stood up.  She looked determined to show him no weakness; despite all those times he had let her (reluctantly) cry on his shoulder as a child.  Forcing a smile to her face, he was reminded strongly of the fake smiles Hakkai always seemed to wear.  He hoped that she did not have such a past as his friend… then again, wouldn't he have known about it somehow?  He also briefly wondered why he was worrying about her so much.

            "Hello, Oniisan," she said quietly.  As children, they had found that the only way they could address each other was to call themselves something they were not.  Sanzo was "Oniisan," and she was "Imouto."  "I'm sorry I didn't hear you come."  She looked embarrassed, not addressing him by his name.  Sanzo felt equally embarrassed that he did not know hers, despite the makeshift names they had come up for each other.  But he could tell that she would not ask the question they had both asked last night.  He would not either.  She was the person that kept him company in his childhood dreams.  It was enough of an explanation for now.  He had not seen his "little sister" in years.  Maybe they could figure out a way to learn more about each other without waking up first…

            "It doesn't matter," he said nonchalantly.  After all, why should he care about some mysterious girl ignoring him?  Yet for some reason he did.  _Damn the past,_ he thought to himself.

            An uncomfortable silence followed as the girl avoided his eyes.  It was painfully obvious to him that she was hiding something.As an alternative, he looked up at the sky.  Instead of the intense reds and oranges of sunset, Sanzo could only see blue.  There was not a cloud in the sky, or a breeze through the trees.  _It's so much different than yesterday,_ he noted.

            Attention drifting back to the woman, their gazes locked together.  Sanzo never thought he had seen such eyes anywhere before.  They were brown – such an ordinary color – yet shown with incredibly intensity and kindness.  It was as if the brown were a disguise for what was really going on in her mind.

            Yet to him, she was transparent.  She could not hide her grief no matter how hard she tried, and even if she wouldn't cry in release of it.  She did not cry when she did not mean it, just as he did.****

            As he continued to study the woman, he noted that her hair was tied back with a white ribbon.  Every time he had ever seen her, her hair was down, the ribbon discarded.  The woman noticed his shift in attention, and screwed her face up in disgust as she pulled the ribbon out of her hair and let it fall unceremoniously to the ground.  Long onyx colored hair fell around her shoulders, offering contrast to the white top of her robes.  Her expression softened from the sadness he had seen before, as well as the anger at seeing her hair up.

            With a small smile, he took off his crown and set it next to the ribbon on the grass.  While he would never disrespect such an object as his master's crown by throwing it, Sanzo had never liked wearing it.  He wore it for ceremonial purposes only.

            "Why do you never like your hair tied back?" he asked her suspiciously.  Curiosity had been getting the better of him, but he decided to hide it under an act.

            He noticed how her smile seemed to now carry a small bit of hatred in it.  "When I was little, I hated having my hair tied back.  I liked the feeling of the wind blowing through it."  Her smile had softened slightly before reverting back to the anger.  "But I hate having my hair tied back now because it reminds a friend of mine of my past life."

            _Her past life?_ Sanzo was shocked.  He knew there had to have been people who lived as long as Goku in this world – people who would be able to see the reincarnations of those he had known.  He himself grew angry at the thought.  A person should not be bound by what he had done in their past life.

            "No matter how much he knows that I'm not her, I still look like her.  But," she added with a bit of malice, "she doesn't wear her hair like this.  And, I _never_ wear miko robes, and she never wears anything else."

            _She's speaking of this woman in the present tense…_ "Don't you mean _wore_," he said correctively.  _There's no possible way a soul can have two incarnations in the same world at the same time._

            "No, she is alive.  She is a demon, but she is alive."

            _A demon?  How can that be?_ Sanzo wondered.  _Her ki is human.  It is unusual like mine is, but it is still human.  How could her past self be a demon?  How can they co-exist?_

            There was yet another uncomfortable pause, and Sanzo noted that the woman was collecting her emotions.  Did she really hate her past self that much?  He was almost overwhelmed with the urge to press for more information.  Was the reason she called him to her because of her previous incarnation?  One look at her face, and Sanzo could tell that it wasn't the case.  No matter how much she hated the woman, it was not the cause of her pain.

            "Why did you call me to you?" he asked, bringing the matter to a head.  She seemed surprised at the question, almost as if it was the last thing she suspected that he would ask.

            "I thought _you_ had called _me_," she said, confused.  "I've been in worse situations than this before, and I never saw you…"

            He had been thinking along the same lines.  He had never asked to see this girl in his dreams, but whenever something that angered him or saddened him he would find himself there.  It wasn't a question of admitting one's feelings, it was a matter of logic.  He would not have chosen to be there, but according to the laws of their dreams, he should have been.

            "I found you both times," he said defensively.  The fact was true; he had sought her out, not the other way around.  Not to mention, what did he have to worry about in particular at the moment anyways?

            "Sorry, I was… distracted," the woman said with a bit of uncertainty, trying to avoid the topic.

            "You were crying."

            Anger flared in her eyes, as she appeared ready to shout something, but then stopped herself.  Taking a deep breath, she turned to face the river again and sat down on the bank.

            Sanzo was not going to leave without an answer.  If he had to be here, he might as well be doing something.  Coming closer, he walked onto the bank and sat about five feet away from her.  He never liked being in close proximity to others, but he had found it an effective tool for intimidation in the past.

            The woman would not say anything for several minutes, resolute to stare at the water.  He stared at the water with her, not so much as glancing in her direction.  Just as he had been wondering if it was possible to "fall awake" from within a dream out of boredom, she spoke.

            "I have to leave home for a year, and I might not make it back alive."

            The statement shocked the priest.  _What is she involved with that would have her risk her life?_ He thought.

            "Why is that?" he asked casually, as if it was beyond his concern.

            "Because there is no way that we can get anything accomplished if I stick close to the Well- I mean home.  We need to be able to travel great distances without me going home every couple weeks."

            _Well?  What is she talking about?_  "Why would you have to go home every couple weeks?" he asked in an indifferent tone of voice.

            "When it first started, I was only fifteen.  I was still going to school, and I had to do mammoth amounts of make up work while I was gone.  If I left completely, people would have grown suspicious."

            This was interesting news.  _Why was she still going to school at fifteen?  Isn't she a priestess?  Even if she had to go on a holy mission, I highly doubt that her superiors would swamp her in work like that when she got back._

            Then again, if she were truly a member of a temple, she would not have been going to school, but would have been taught by the temple.  Not only that, but education in Tougenkyou ended at age thirteen.  Trades were to be learned after that, or the wealthy would hire private tutors.  No matter what explanation he could come up with, none of it made sense to Sanzo.  School should not have been a problem for her at this time.  His "little sister" was truly mysterious.  _I don't understand what she's talking about…_

            "Oy!  Earth to Sanzo!"  Gojyo's call had snapped him out of his memory.  Silently cursing the water sprite or interrupting his analysis of the dream he had, Sanzo turned his attention to the half demon.

            "What?" he asked shortly.  The day's memories were returning to him, as well as his short temper.  He did not like to be disturbed.  He was the one who was the most disappointed at the idea of sharing a room after a long car ride together.  _And it isn't going to end anytime soon, either…_

            "Kanzeon Bosatsu wants to speak to you."

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What did Kagura pick up?  I wonder if anyone figured out what it was…  As yes, I took a bit of artistic license with Tougenkyou's school system.  It was never explained in either the anime or manga, because there wasn't a reason to do so…

I am looking for a beta reader to help me out with Kindred Spirits.  If you are interested in helping out, please e-mail me (Iapetus_chan@yahoo.com).

If you are interested in knowing when this story is updated, please leave your e-mail address in your review.

Comments?  Criticisms?  Let me know them all!  I appreciate any and all input!  See ya in the next chapter!

-Iapetus


	6. Insubordination

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  I do not own either of these wonderful series.

Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback, I appreciate it!  Review responses can be found in my Live Journal for January 27.

Special thanks to The SOC Puppet and Kenren Taishou for helping me beta this chapter.

I'd also like to apologize for the pace being slow.  I just like to describe things, and got carried away.  I'll try to summarize better from now on, but thank you to both Fogwolf and Dephanie for pointing this out to me.  I don't mind criticisms, they help me write better.

**_WARNING:_**  This is one of the chapters that borders on R due to violence and a suggested situation.  I promised you warnings, and here it is.  Read with caution.

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Chapter 6:  Insubordination

            Souta had loosened up as the day had gone by, but could not explain the terrible feeling of apprehension in his being as he walked into his Asian literature class.  It was unlike the uncanny ability he had to figure out when they would have a pop quiz (which his classmates greatly appreciated).  It was more of a foreboding feeling – a premonition.  He itched to have his bokken in hand, or at least nearby.  There was no youki around – he had been taught to sense it by Kagome and Inu Yasha a long time ago through the frequent demon attacks that occurred when Kagome had come home.  There was also no malicious ki…  _What the hell is going on?_ He thought, frustrated.

            Taking his seat behind Akira, Souta noticed a class copy of Chinese Mythology.  The foreboding grew as he looked at the book.  Why was he freaking out over a book?  If any kind of mythology should be putting him on edge, it should have been Japanese.  The monsters from the legends were real in their past, and sometimes even tried to kill his sister.

            "Yes!  I love Chinese Mythology!  If we were going to do haikus any longer…" Sakura's voice dropped to a dangerously low level, "I might not be responsible for what might happen."

            Akira smirked at the response, but the girl who sat behind him did not seem to so amused.  "There is nothing wrong with Haikus," Rika said in a huff.  Rika was a poet at heart and loved haikus; it was her passion.  The boys just found it amusing when the two girls disagreed.  Yuuko took the seat to the right of Rika, and simply gave Souta a worried look.  He saw that Satoru had the same expression on his face.

            _She told him…_ he thought with a sigh.  Well, it wasn't like Satoru wouldn't find out sooner or later, he was Souta's best friend, but he hated when he couldn't tell people himself.  And when Kagome was the one under discussion, he didn't like to speak at all.  He hated telling lies when he didn't have to.

            Casually tossing a folded note onto Souta's desk, he put a smile back on his face and pretended that nothing was going on.  Souta waited quietly for Rika and Sakura to get into another fight over something stupid while the others laughed at them before he opened the note.

            It was short, but that was always how Satoru wrote.  _I miss my sister too.  I understand._  Souta quickly put the letter away as the teacher walked in.

            How could Souta be so insensitive to his friend?  Only Satoru had an idea of how he felt.  Well, maybe he should reverse that.  Only Souta had an idea of how Satoru felt.  After the fire in their apartment almost seven years ago, his older sister Mayu had died.  Satoru learned later from his mother that Kagome had somehow pacified Mayu's soul, and was especially worried about her when "illness" persisted.  Of all his friends, Souta wished he could tell Satoru the truth – Inu Yasha and Kagome had actually saved his life at one point.  But secrets were secrets, and he had to keep them.

            Yamada-sensei signaled for silence, which slowly came to the classroom.  The foreboding in Souta's mind grew as his teacher began to speak.

            "As you can tell, we have stopped studying haikus for a short period of time."  There were several cheers, including Sakura's at this statement.  Rika glared at them all, but they were oblivious to her cold reaction.

            "However, this is only a break from our poetry unit.  We will continue tomorrow with the wonderful poetry form of the Korean Sijo."  Here, there were even more groans than cheers.  Rika smiled in triumph.  Akira rolled his eyes.

            "I simply had this _incredible urge_ to delve into Chinese Mythology, and decided that you all needed a break.  Lucky you," he added with a smirk.  "So, if you would please all turn to page twelve in your books… then we can begin.

            "Higurashi, please begin at the top of page twelve."

            Souta stood up, picking up the book as he rose.  As he looked down to begin reading, the page's words swirled together –  the text becoming unrecognizable.  The number twelve in the corner remained clear, signifying that he was indeed on the right page.  Chancing a glance at Satoru's book, he saw no letters swirling.  When he squinted at the text on his friend's page however, it began to swirl.  Satoru didn't seem to notice.

            "Higurashi?" the teacher asked impatiently.  Some students laughed, and Souta tried to block them out.  Desperately praying to whatever god would listen, he put his hand on the page in attempt to flatten it down – hoping it would appear to the teacher that he was simply finding his place.  Suddenly, the words stopped swirling, and formed text again.

            Breathing a sigh of relief, Souta started his reading.  "_The Journey to the West,_ or _Saiyuki_ as it is known in Japanese, is an ancient Chinese legend dating back to the seventh-century A.D."  He chanced a brief look up to make sure the text was correct.  Yamada-sensei didn't seem to have a problem with it, as he was still looking at the text and not at him.  Taking this as a good sign, Souta continued.

            "It revolves around a rebellious priest of high rank whose title was Toua Genjo Sanzo the thirty-first, and his mission to stop the resurrection of the Bull Demon King Gyumaoh in India."  A stunned silence filled the room as he stopped in shock.

            "_What_, did you say, Higurashi?" his teacher asked in slight disbelief.

            "I simply read what is in my book, sensei," Souta said innocently.

            Yamada-sensei gave him a long searching look, choosing not to say anything for a full minute.  While Higurashi Souta was a popular student, he was generally not a troublemaker.

            "Tell me then, Higurashi," Yamada-sensei probed, "Does Akahori's text say the same thing?"  He motioned for the bewildered student to pick up his best friend's copy of the book.  Souta made a desperate attempt to check the text before it could swirl again, but he did not get past the first word before these words also swirled into a mess.  When the words stopped, they were the same as his copy of Chinese Mythology.

            "It is the same thing, Yamada-sensei," Souta said slowly.  His teacher rewarded him with another reproachful look.

            "Akahori, please take Higurashi's book and read the first line to the class."  Yamada-sensei did not tolerate disruption, especially when he was giving the class a "treat."  Souta had already violated this twice.  The young man knew he was about to get in trouble.  Akira looked apologetically at Souta, and took his book.  Souta briefly noticed the letters swirl again and stop just before Akira started talking.  He hadn't noticed it either.

            "_The Journey to the West_, or _Saiyuki_ as it is known in Japanese, is an ancient Chinese legend dating back to the seventh century A.D.," Akira verified.  "_It revolves around the devout priest named Sanzo, and his mission from the Emperor to regain Buddhist Scriptures_."

            _Oh crap…_ he thought silently.  _What can I say to that?_

            "Do you think this is funny, Higurashi?" his teacher said in a low voice.

            "No sir."

            "Maybe you should think about it out in the hall."  He pointed to the door, and Souta headed for it.  He was not telling a lie, but Souta had a feeling that he would not be able to read anymore of the text without getting into more trouble.  Without arguing, he angrily left the room.  As he left, Yamada-sensei handed him another copy of Chinese Mythology.

            "Read up to page twenty.  I will send someone for you at the end of class."

            Souta silently took the book and sat down – back against the wall as the door closed.  Cracking open the book, the pages fell open to the dratted number twelve, and swirled together again.  When it stopped, he continued reading where he had previously left off.

            "Traveling with the high priest were three others.  The first was Son Goku, who was also known as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.  He had been locked away in Mount Gogyu for five hundred years before Genjo Sanzo set him free."  Souta didn't question what he read, but continued, hoping to find some sense in the mess.

            "The second companion was Sha Gojyo, a half demon whose father was a water sprite."  Souta cracked a smile at the line.  There was another half demon.  _I wonder if he's anything like Inu Yasha…_

            "The third companion was formerly known as the human Cho Gonou.  However, he had been transformed into a demon, and took on the name Cho Hakkai soon afterwards."

            _What is happening to me?_ He thought, worried.  While it was all very interesting, it wasn't what the legend had said before.  _What is wrong with me?_

            "Nothing's wrong with you," he heard a female voice say suddenly, one he did not recognize.

            "Oh yeah, then why are the page's letters swirling-" he stopped as he looked up.  There standing in front of him was a woman in a VERY revealing outfit.  Her dress/ skirt's fabric went all the way to the floor, but there was a cut on each side showing generous amounts of leg.  The fabric at her top did not cover her arms, and barely seemed to cover her torso.  She wore a symbol for the sun across her breasts, and jewelry around her wrists.  He blushed slightly.  _How did someone like this get into school?_

            Her face wore a smug expression, and he could tell that she was around his mother's age.  At least, that was how she looked.  There were no wrinkles in her face, however, and something in her eyes told her she was MUCH older than his mother.  Her hair was pulled back slightly, revealing a red dot on her forehead.

            She smirked as she continued.  "You were simply able to see the truth beyond what you humans have miscopied over the centuries.  How their legend was reduced to this, I don't think even kami-sama, could explain."

            _The truth?_ He wondered dubiously.  _What is she talking about?  Wait a minute, "you humans…?"_

            "Who are you?" he asked breathlessly.

            "The Merciful Goddess, Goddess of Mercy, Kanzeon Bosatsu, I go by many names," she said with a laugh, then bowed slightly with humor "at your service."

            _A Goddess?_ His eyes bulged.  He knew they existed because of his sister's adventures, but he never thought he'd _meet_ one…  Forgetting courtesy, he jumped to the one thing on his mind.

            "Um, Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama, is my sister ok?" he asked quickly.  Surely she would know about Kagome, and would be able to give him an answer.

            "You have guts, kid," she smiled.  "I like that.  And I see you care for your sister.  But tell me, what do YOU desire?"

            He couldn't believe that a goddess was asking him this.  What did he desire more than anything?  He wanted to protect his sister from the dangers of the Sengoku Jidai.  Souta had always felt guilty for calling Kagome over to the Bone Gobbling Well that fateful day, her fifteenth birthday, so long ago.

            He wanted a normal family, with their father still alive.  In the back of his mind, however, he knew that this was just the "normal boy" excuse that he knew he was supposed to respond with.  People were supposed to desire a normal life, not an abnormal one.

            No, what he _really_ wanted… he wanted to have his own journey.  He wanted to carry a katana, not a bokken.  He wanted to make friends who he could protect, and would do the same for him.  He wanted to get out of the monotonous pattern of this world…

            "Do you want me to grant that wish?" she smiled mischievously.  Closing his eyes, Souta focused all of his senses on the ki of the woman.  This was no deception, she was no demon, and she was no human.  The only other option was a god, well, goddess in her case.

            "I promised my sister that I would protect my family!" he said stubbornly.

            "What if I told you that they would be protected?" the goddess' word were followed by a pregnant pause.  "The demon's goal is has changed, and it is now not in this time.  They will not bother your family."

            "But…" he struggled to think of an excuse.  "My mother would not be able to stand it if I was not here.  My sister's absence is hard enough."

            "Boy, with the gods a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.  If you accept this offer, no one will notice your absence.  If you decline, you will forget that I even approached you."

            "How could they not notice my absence?" he questioned.

            "Trust me, they will not."  The goddess seemed to notice the indecisiveness on his face and continued.

            "What would happen if I told you that you could help your sister out?  She need all the help she can get soon."

            He opened his mouth to respond, but found that nothing came out.  He was speechless.

            "Should I take that as a 'yes?'" she asked with a laugh.

            Slowly, the young man nodded, and Higurashi Souta's world changed forever.

            _The Merciful goddess my ass,_ he thought bitterly.  _That old hag probably just wants to amuse herself again by "conveniently" revealing to us something worthwhile._

            "You shouldn't think bad of a goddess, especially when she's standing right in front of you," Kanzeon Bosatsu said with a smirk.

            "How can you stop thinking about someone?" Sanzo heard Goku ask Hakkai, in the background, in what the demon thought was a low whisper.

            "Ah, that's a good question…" Hakkai chuckled slightly nervously.  "I'm not exactly sure myself…"

            Sanzo chose not to reply.  Instead, he lowered his cigarette to knock the ash away.  As he went to take another drag, he looked the goddess in the eye.

            "I think what I want," he said simply.

            "True," she smiled sweetly.  "It wouldn't be any fun if you were all brainwashed to do something."

            Sanzo saw Gojyo roll his eyes from behind the goddess' back.  Whether the goddess knew of this or not they never found out, her mind quickly shifting back to the subject at hand.

            Wait, why _had_ she come?

            The sixteen-year-old human landed unceremoniously on his butt from the sky.  Wincing, he rubbed his rear end, cursing his "good fortune."  As soon as had said "yes" to the goddess' proposal, he had found himself enveloped in a sea of brilliant white light.  He had been unable to move, even if he had not wanted to.  The Merciful Goddess knew what she was doing, right?

            Well, she knew some things, at least.  If it had not been for her, his falling from the sky would have resulted in him becoming a human pancake, not having a sore rear end.  _Of course, if it had not been for the goddess, I wouldn't be here anyways,_ he thought with a bit of a frustrated smile.

            Standing up warily, Higurashi Souta looked for signs of his divine intercessor.  Wouldn't she give him an explanation on what had to be done?  Kagome had found out from the beginning what her mission would be… if he was to have some sort of quest, wouldn't it be important to find out what it was first?

            When silence responded to his mental plea, he decided to take a look around.  It was a dense forest for the most part, but he could make out a trail about fifty yards from where he stood.  The path did not look rough, but well cut.  Walking closer, he saw that it was a dirt road.  _Did they have this good of roads back in the past?_ He thought.  _Am I really back in the past?_  Suddenly, his common sense came back to him, and he fought down the natural instinct to panic.  _If this is really the Sengoku Jidai, then that means that there are demons running around._  He looked to the ground for something he could fight with.  _I need a weapon…_

            Almost immediately, he saw a wooden sword leaning up against a tree.  He could hear a voice faintly laugh in his head as he picked up the bokken.  _A gift from the heavens, huh?_  He bowed in respect to the goddess he could not see.  "Thank you very much," he said quietly.  The goddess would be able to hear him, and he did not want to attract unneeded attention to himself.  After raising himself back up, he continued.

            "Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama, what is it that you want me to do, exactly?" he asked.

            There was no answer.  Gripping his bokken tightly, he tried to calm down.  _Why am I being called back if I don't know what I'm supposed to do?_ He thought.  _How am I supposed to help out Kagome?_

            The goddess, apparently, decided to answer him at this point.  "You will have to figure that one out for yourself, Higurashi Souta.  Until then, be a doer of good works."  With that, her voice vanished from his head.  It was replaced a second later with a scream.

            Souta drove his frustrated thoughts surrounding the goddess out of his head (for the time being, anyway) and focused his ears on the direction of the scream.  _It was slightly to the right… Or was it behind me?_  He focused his other energy into sensing unusual chi. If there was any hostile chi around, he would feel it in an instant.  Suddenly, he found it.

            _It's a girl…_ he noted.  _She was _definitely_ to my right…_  Taking off, Souta tried to make as little noise as possible.  He could feel the brush of the forest tear at his school uniform.  How had Kagome fought for so long in her school uniform?  He made a mental note to get a better outfit later.  He could always buy a new uniform when he got back to the present.  Someone's life was in danger.  Clothes didn't matter.

            Thanking the goddess that he was downwind of the disturbance, he peeked out from behind a tree.  It was a woman's worst nightmare – or was about to be.  Four men surrounded her, all grinning lewdly down at the terrified woman.  Souta shook his head – they weren't human.  He could feel it now – he had not sensed youki in awhile, and he was rusty at it.  Their ears were pointed, and their claws were sharp.****

            The young man quickly took in his situation for analysis.  He was no expert, having only fought demons before with Kagome's aid, but he had gathered tips from his sister and Inu Yasha for fighting large groups.

            _Don't be dramatic like in anime and announce yourself.  You'll only give them time to organize themselves so they can kill you._  Kagome had taken this rule to heart, since Inu Yasha did not seem to care for it at all.  But when an enemy acted like this, there was no disrespect in attacking him from behind.  They had no honor, and someone else's life was on the line.

            Quickly scanning the four, Souta debated which one to go for first.  He felt like a predator trying to find the sickly one or the weakling out of a herd.  He mentally laughed at the image – a teenage human become a predator to demons?

            "Please, leave me alone!" the girl cried out.  "I was only out collecting raspberries, I didn't even come near your territory!"

            The biggest demon smirked, and signaled the second largest demon to hold her down.  He ran a claw delicately down her cheekbone, grinning vulgarly as her eyes bulged in her head.  "We decided to expand our horizons.  This stretch is now ours.  You know what happens to those who walk into our territory…"

            "Please, NO!" she screamed.

            "Of course, you are too beautiful to just eat.  Let's have a little fun, first."

            "Let me go!" she wailed helplessly against the demon's grasp.

            Souta had originally decided to go for the scrawny one, as a predator usually did in a hunt, but his plans changed.  Focusing his chi into his limbs and into his bokken, he charged forward towards the leader.

Having been so focused on their approaching moment of lustful activity, they had been oblivious to the fighting chi behind them.  The world suddenly snapped back when a young man ran and slashed downward at the leader's head.  The demon was barely able to move in response to the attack, and as a result Souta could hear the sickening crunch of the demon's collarbone shattering.  He had moved his head just in time to save his life, but was now howling in pain, holding his right side with his left arm.

The other demons had been too shocked to react at first, so Souta shifted his grip and struck out at the next demon.  It was his original target, the scrawny one, and this time his wooden sword did connect with the demon's skull.  Bone shattered there as well, and he did not care to look at the cavern he had created in the vile creature's head.  _I don't have time to think about it…_ he thought.  _I've killed demons before, I can do it again._

The leader was enraged, in a mixture of pain from his own body and seeing his companion lie dead.  He turned away from the girl, agony and hate in his eyes.

"You little brat," he said in a dangerously low voice.  "You're dead!  Kill him!"  He signaled to the other two demons.  Souta noticed with quick satisfaction that the leader was having trouble getting to his feet.  He had made several failed attempts and was still on the ground.

Souta quickly looked at the girl and jerked his head viciously, wanting her to get out of there before he turned to the two unharmed demons.  _I need to feel _where_ they are;_ he forced himself to remain calm.  _Panic will only cloud my judgment…_ he repeated.

            The two demons came at him, claws extended, ready to tear him limb from limb.  Preparing himself for a quick escape, he gave the impression that he would take the two head on.

            They were closing in from his front and back, and the young man simply held his defense.  _Two seconds… one second…_ They were there, and he sent all of his energy to his legs to step out of the way.  The momentum of the two enraged demons collided, and he saw the shocked look on their faces as they impaled themselves through the heart with the other's long claws.  It was sickening – Souta felt like he wanted to throw up.  He hadn't seen a corpse in awhile.  _Damn, I'm getting rusty…_  But, he didn't have time to think of that.  There was still one demon left.

            Turning to the leader, Souta held his wooden sword out in front of him in an attack stance.  The rage did not dim from the leader's eyes, and Souta began to feel slightly afraid.  Sometimes, a wounded animal was more dangerous than a healthy one.  _I should have finished him off right then, dammit…_

            "What did we do to you?" he asked with hate quivering through every note.

            Souta saw that the girl had not been able to leave.  She was now staring at him with traces of terror in her eyes, as well as curiosity.

            "Nothing," he said simply.  "But you were about to do something horrible to this girl.  I can't allow that to happen."

            "She violated the agreement we had with the town!  She wandered into our area, and she has to be ready to pay the consequences."

            "It sounded like you changed the agreement without the village's knowledge."  He shifted his weight as he ran at his enemy.  "If you don't follow the rules of the game, you'll renege."  Jumping away at the last second, Souta barely avoided getting gutted by the demon's left arm.  A bloody scratch formed across his stomach, and the young man winced.  He could tell that it wasn't deep, but it was enough to make things difficult.

            The demon leader still did not get up.  Gritting his teeth to take his mind away from the pain, Souta charged at his adversary again.  He slashed his wooden sword downwards, concentrating a portion of his chi to manifest itself in the blade as well as the air it moved.  The demon was knocked backward by the wave, although seemingly unharmed by it.  The expression of pain he wore was because of the air striking his shattered shoulder, as well as surprise that the attack was not a deathblow.  Taking this moment of confusion, Souta again routed all of his energy to his legs to circle around the demon, making it look as though he appeared instantly behind him.  It all seemed to happen in an instant as Souta delivered a powerful blow to the back of the demon's neck.  Again, there was a crack, and the young man saw the life go out of the leader's eyes.

            Souta did not let himself relax his stance until he was sure that all four demon's youki had completely disappeared.  He could feel their souls leave their body, malice still within their core aimed at him.  It didn't matter, the danger was gone for now.****

            "Um…" The girl he had saved didn't seem to know exactly how to react.

            "Are you ok?" he asked, walking over to her, trying not to show the pain in his face.

            "Y- yes."  She blushed slightly.  "Thank you so much… I thought I was a goner."

            "I wouldn't have known if you hadn't screamed," he countered.  "You helped yourself."  He smiled, and offered his torn coat to her.  "I'm sorry that it is in rough shape, and that it is bloody, but I think it is better than what you have on.

            The girl graciously took his uniform jacket and covered her bare midriff.  "Thank you again."  She seemed to remember suddenly that her savior was injured.  "We need to get that treated right away!"

            "I'll be fine," he said with a forced grin.  _Yeah right, this hurts like none other…_  "It sounded like there was a town nearby.  Where is it exactly?"

            Pulling the uniform jacket tightly around her, the girl stood up shakily.  "I'll take you there."

            "What is your name?" Souta asked, curious.

            "Shuang."  _Shuang is a Chinese name.  What is going on here?_  "What's yours?" she asked back politely.

            _What happened to your world, Kagome?_ He thought in confusion.

            "I'm Souta."

            "There is a reason that you cannot locate that woman in your dreams, Konzen," she said with a smile.  Sanzo's eyes narrowed at her revelation of his dreams to his companions.  He had fleetingly forgotten that the goddess saw everything, even the private dreams between him and the girl.

            "She's a woman now, start thinking of her that way.  She isn't the little girl you once knew," she said with another smile.

            He could see Gojyo grin widely at the statement and raised his eyebrows at the priest.  _Shit, the perverted water sprite is going to have a field day with this…_

            There were a million different things that Sanzo could have said to the goddess after that, and most of them were not the most polite things a person could say.  Instead, he found himself saying something else.  "Why can't I feel her presence?"

            "She hasn't been born yet."

            "WHAAT?" Goku shouted, "How can that be?"  The demon had obviously forgotten that while they were present in the room, he was to keep his mouth shut.  

            "You really shouldn't interrupt a goddess, Goku," Hakkai corrected him gently.

            "Who the hell cares?" Gojyo rolled his eyes.  "I know _you_ want to know the answer as much as the rest of us do…"

            "Neither has her past self been born yet," Kanzeon continued.

            "Then can you at least tell me who she is?" Sanzo's temper was close to reaching the critical stage.  He had been pulled out of his own personal analysis of the dream only to be playing word games with the merciful goddess.  If she loved to tease, then maybe she wasn't so full of mercy after all.  _Sadist…_

            "No one knows what she is – not her friends, not her enemy, not even herself.  Her existence remains to be an enigma.  She is much more than a reincarnation of the woman she talked about in your dream."  With that, she turned her back to the priest and to his companions.  Holding out her arm, three small orbs of light glistened ominously in the dark room.  Gojyo's eyes rose in suspicion, as well as Hakkai's.  However, the alarms in Sanzo's head were set off at the expression on Goku's face.  It was one of pure terror and desperation, an expression that the monkey never showed, even in the heat of battle.

            A small voice in the back of his head told him that last statement was wrong.  _Hakkai says he looks like that when he thinks that I'm about to die…_

            "NOOOOOOOOO!" Goku screamed as the orbs sped off towards the three men.  Prompted by Goku's response, Hakkai and Gojyo futilely attempted to shield themselves with their arms, but the orb simply went through their limbs and into their heads.  Their pupils vanished, and they fell to the ground.  Goku looked as if he were trying to take off his power limiter in an effort to attack the goddess, but his eyes too lost their pupils, and he fell, crying to the ground.

            Sanzo cocked the hammer on his Smith and Wesson and pointed the barrel at the back of Kanzeon Bosatsu's head.  "What did you do to them?" he demanded hotly.

            "My my, you're being a bit touchy, Konzen," she laughed.  "Long day?"

            _You have no idea._  "What.  Did.  You.  Do?"

            "It isn't as if that gun would do anything against me," she teased,  "I'm a goddess, remember?"

            Gritting his teeth, he fired.  The bullet sliced through thin air and left a mark on the door.

            "You just had to fire, didn't you?" the goddess laughed darkly.  "You had to try.  You were always trigger happy, or would have been if you had a gun before.  Well, I'm glad you care about your friends so much that you would kill _even me_ to avenge them.  But you have no cause – they're still breathing."

            "They're not my friends!" he said hotly.  "What did you do to them?" Sanzo asked again, shifting the barrel of his gun to the goddess who was now at his right side.

            "Acting in your best interest.  You were angry that I told them about the woman in your dreams, weren't you?"

            Sanzo decided not go give her the honor of a verbal answer.

            "So, I wiped their memory of my coming to see you.  You may again enjoy your "me" time, _Genjo Sanzo_." She moved to leave, but Sanzo pulled the hammer back again.

            "Why did Goku scream like that then?  It sounded like you were killing him."

            "He is the only one who knew what that orb did, of course he would be afraid," the goddess said in a matter of fact way.  "Don't worry, he'll be fine."

            "I don't care about him," Sanzo denied fiercely.

            "Yes, and I support Gyumaoh's resurrection," Kanzeon said sarcastically.  "Remember that you can never hide your heart to me, Konzen."  With that, she seemed to dissolve into the air

            Muttering to himself about shitty deities and their power trips, he moved to put his comrades into their beds.  He was glad that the goddess had left them knocked out – maybe she really was a boshivitta.  

            After moving two of his three companions into their beds, Sanzo found himself staring at the monkey on the floor.  _What were you remembering, Goku, when she pulled that orb out?_  As he picked up the earth spirit's small figure, he noticed that the boy's lips were moving ever so slightly.  When he lowered his head, he could hear him speak in barely a whisper.

            "Nataku…"

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Sorry for the slow update, but since I now have a beta (and the fact that we have both been busy recently), updates will probably not be weekly anymore.  I do have material written, but it might be a week to two weeks between updates from now on.

Comments and criticisms appreciated!

-Iapetus


	7. Gold

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  I do not own either series.

Beta Reader:  Kenren Taishou

**_Note to readers:_**  I am now including various aspects of Saiyuki Gaiden in the story.

Thank you to everyone for your reviews!  My responses to them can be found in my Live Journal for February 4.

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Chapter 7:  Gold

            Souta was running as hard as he could, through what seemed to be a forest of chains.  They were of all makes and sizes and of all lengths as well.  Some were rusted beyond use, while others were as shiny as if they were just finished by a blacksmith.  He had got entangled in them several times, but was always able to get free.  He had tripped several times, but he had always managed to get up.  While shackles were scattered around, seemingly threatening, he ignored them.  _Someone needs my help, I can feel it,_ he thought desperately.  He wanted to scream out against the injustice he could feel building in his heart.  The more he ran towards his goal, the more it seemed to run away.  The more he tried to avoid the chains, the thicker they seemed to grow.

            Then, suddenly, he found himself in a small alcove, where the chains draped above his head and around him like a room.  As he walked on top of chains lying on the ground, he felt as if he had just entered a cage.  His attention was immediately drawn to the center of the room, where three men were sitting.  All of them looked very different from each other, and yet they were all somehow connected to each other.  As he looked closer, he saw that the three of them also had shackles around their wrists.  A chain linked the three together, while the ends ran into the endless forest Souta had just come from.

            The first man, who only looked a couple of years older than him, seemed to be the most cheerful one in the group.  Despite the heavy chains attached to him, he would move his arms around as if they were not there.  The chains made an ominous sound every time they rattled, but the young man was oblivious of it.  He had chocolate brown hair that seemed to stand up at its own accord.  Underneath his hair, Souta saw a band of gold hug the man's forehead like a coronet.  As the man opened his eyes from laughing, Souta was amazed at what he saw.

            The gold of the coronet could not compare to the gold of the young man's eyes.  There was something otherworldly about it, and yet very beautiful at the same time.  Eyes like those did not exist in his world – for they were young and old at the same time.  ****

            His gaze shifted to look at the rest of the man's body.  He only seemed to be wearing a pair of leather pants.  Souta arched his eyebrows in slight confusion.  _Why would he be wearing only pants in a place like this?_  The chains were cold to the touch, and they could pinch the skin when it came into contact with it the wrong way.  Mentally, Souta slapped himself.  _They probably didn't have a choice in the matter…_

            Souta then turned to look at the second man.  He seemed older, as well as the tallest among his three companions.  He was also smiling while he talked, but Souta noticed that this man's eyes and smile seemed a lot less innocent than the first man's.

            The tall man's eyes marveled the young swordsman, for they were also beautiful in a haunting way.  _They are the color of the setting sun,_ he thought fleetingly.

            He mentally sighed to himself.  Their poetry unit in his Asian American literature class was beginning to get to him.  Although he knew Rika wouldn't mind…

            The tall man's hair was a deep shade of red that he had never seen before.  He was truly a red head, but Souta had never thought that that particular shade could be natural.

            This man was also only wearing a pair of leather pants, and was leaning lazily on his left hand.  One leg was bent while the other was straightened.  Souta wondered if it was more comfortable to sit like that among the chains that made that floor.

            The third man (who was also dressed in only leather pants) seemed to be about the second man's age.  He was not as tall as the second man, but Souta knew that he would still be taller than himself.  On his left ear were three small metal clasps.  They didn't look like earrings, and Souta wondered what they were.  This man also had brown hair, but the brown seemed to be slightly darker than the first man's.  Most of his hair seemed to be swept forward, as if attempting to cover his right eye.  He was the only one of the three to have any kind of glasses, although Souta noticed that it was a monocle.  _You don't see those every day…_

            This man's eyes were also vivid, only his was a mystical shade of green.  It looked to be the kind that only people with contacts could possess, for it was not a natural shade of green.  As he looked closer, though, he saw that it was indeed real.  Souta was reminded of forests, and his mind began to drift back to the forest of chains he was now in.  He wanted to free the men in the center, even if he couldn't figure out why.  He had never seen them before in his life.  Then again, maybe he was just drawn to them by their eyes…

            The shortest of the three, the first man, suddenly noticed Souta's presence.  "Hi!" he called out.  "Do you have any food on you?" he questioned, hopeful.

            The second man whacked the first on the head.  "You stupid monkey!  Don't just go asking strangers for food, it's rude!"

            "Oww… that hurts, you ero kappa!" the younger man retaliated.

            "Maa maa, calm down you two," the third man laughed nervously.

            "But I'm hungry!" whined the first man.  "And he just isn't _any_ stranger, since he found us here."

            There was silence for a moment.  The three men turned to look at Souta, curious.

            "How did you find us?" the man with red hair asked him.

            Souta had to give himself a mental shake to get himself out of his shock.  They had noticed him so quickly… and he was frustrated that he couldn't sense their presences.  Well, he could sense them, but he couldn't tell what they were.  In fact, when he focused on his own power, he couldn't even tell if it was human or not.  _Weird…_

            "I – I felt that someone needed my help," Souta answered quickly.  It sounded stupid, but it was the truth.  He also felt like he couldn't lie to those eyes.  They would see through any story he made up.

            "See?" the golden-eyed man pointed out, by literally pointing to Souta, "He came to feed us!  That's helping!"

            The red haired man hit the golden-eyed man again.  "What kind of reasoning is that?  I don't remember asking for any help."

            Souta suddenly felt very uncomfortable.  He had figured out that this was the place he needed to be in, but he wasn't sure exactly what to do.  He wanted to find a key to free them…

            "I'm sorry," he found himself apologizing.  "It's just… it's confusing in this forest of chains.  I don't know how to make sense of it."

            "There's no reason to apologize," the green eyed man said with smile.  "I'm just surprised that you yourself do not have chains of your own.  Usually those who come here can never leave.  And usually," he said with a small smile, "you get these shackles put on you upon arrival."  He held up his wrists to display his own shackles and chains.

            "Yeah, unless you are born with them on," the red haired man smirked.  "Then you don't remember at all."

            "Can you maneuver at all?  Is that why you are just sitting here?" he questioned, concerned.  _Wouldn't the chains eventually become tangled up with the rest of the 'forest?'_ he thought.  Their answers proved him wrong.

            "Nah, it isn't hard," the golden-eyed man said confidently.

            "We're waiting for someone," the green eyed-man said simply.

            Kougaiji looked again at the note he had received from General Kiba. It had been crumpled and flattened out several times, yet the demon prince didn't seem to mind.  His eyes narrowed as he read the letter's contents again.  Had he been conscious earlier that week that maybe this whole mess could have been prevented?  He hated throwing his men's lives away, but he hated the fact that no one knew exactly who did it even more.  Yes, they had been formless demons, but were they under the control of someone?  Who, besides the Sanzo-ikkou, could wipe out half of one of his strongest assassin squads?

            Yaone's quiet footsteps approaching from behind brought him back to the present, and he turned to look at her.  She had an unreadable expression on her face, which surprised the prince.  In her hands appeared to be several different types of herbs and flowers, which increased Kougaiji's curiosity.  Even if she did not put all of her herbs away at once, she never came back to report to her lord with plants in her hand.  As she walked closer, he noticed something about the plants she held.  Something didn't seem right about them…

            "Where's Lirin?" he asked, seeing that his little sister was not with his apothecary.

            "She is helping Dokugakugi see to the dragons, my lord," she said quietly.  "We went to my farthest field from where you were going to be; the journey tired the dragons out."

            Kougaiji nodded in approval.  "Good.  I have a feeling that we are going to need the dragons again soon.  Did Koushu give you any trouble about leaving the castle?"

            "No, but we did run into Dr. Ni before we left," Yaone seemed to shudder at the memory.

            "What did he say?" the prince asked in a serious tone.  Sometimes, he felt that dealing with Ni was worse than Koushu.  He knew his stepmother's motives, but the scientist remained to be an enigma.

            "Nothing.  He just stopped walking and watched us pass."

            That was odd.  Ni Jenyi always had the habit of making "random" comments to him and his friends whenever he saw them.  Somehow, Kougaiji liked it less when the man said nothing at all.

            "My lord, every time I see him, he somehow reminds me of someone I know," Yaone said slowly.  "It is almost as if there is something in his presence…"

            Kougaiji raised an eyebrow.  "Really?  Like who?"

            Yaone seemed slightly sheepish suddenly.  "I can't remember who, exactly.  It is almost as if whenever I am on the verge of figuring it out, something pushes me away from making the last connection.  I feel like I'm being teased about it."

            Kougaiji didn't know exactly what to think about that.  He did not doubt Yaone's intuition, but he did not exactly know what to do with this information.  The prince vowed to keep a closer eye on Ni nonetheless.

            Eyes shifting towards the plants in her hands, he decided to change subjects.  "How was your trip out there?"

            Yaone's eyes changed from an uncomfortable expression to one of slight frustration.  She pulled one of the herb stems separate from the rest, and held it out to her lord.  He examined it closely.  It didn't take an expert to see that something was wrong with the plant.

            "That particular herb should be twice the size it currently is at this time of the year," she explained.  "I know that the minus wave is effecting the land in some areas, but that field is not a part of that.  We could feel it in the air as well – something wasn't right.  It is almost as if-"

            "-something is about to happen," he finished.  "I know.  I can feel it too."  He handed the herb back to Yaone.  "Can you still work with them as they are now?"

            "Most of them.  But as I said before, my stores were already stocked, so it won't cause a problem," she reassured.

            The two ceased their conversation as they heard someone approach.  Kougaiji decided this would be a good time for them to end their discussion, and looked Yaone in the eye.

            "Go help Dokugakugi and Lirin rub down the dragons.  There's something I need to check out."

            Souta woke with a start.  He had been sweating through the frustration of his dream, and had not even realized it.  As he gained control over himself again, he began to contemplate his surroundings.

            The room was simple, yet homely.  It was sparsely decorated, and the young swordsman gathered that it was the guest room.  The wood of the walls was left bare, leaving a wall of brown in their wake.  Souta found it relaxing to be in a room of such simplicity.  A single vase of flowers (lilacs, like the ones that bloomed back at home) sat on the dresser under the window.  Propped against it was the only sign that a person was residing there – his wooden sword that had been a gift from Kanzeon Bosatsu herself.  Sun streamed through, and Souta desperately tried to figure out what direction he was pointing.  Was the sun rising or was it setting?  Blinking the light out of his eyes, he rose to get out of bed.

            The bed he had slept in was a soft as feathers, and the sheets felt smooth against his skin.  He winced at the movement slightly, grabbing his chest.  It was bandaged, but the young swordsman had the feeling that his wound from before had almost healed.

            _How long have I been sleeping?_ He wondered.  He vaguely remembered walking into town, and the girl he had saved taking him into her home to have him healed.  But after he had stepped in the door, he had passed out from blood loss, the exertion of fighting four demons at once (when he had at most fought only two at once, and they weren't in human form), as well as the mental stress from all that had happened.  There was something not right about those demons.  Souta knew that he wasn't in the Era of Warring States now more than ever – the Japanese did not have these kinds of houses or beds during that time.  He winced as he finally managed to stand up.  _They didn't have these kinds of bandages either…_

            Now that he was finally standing, Souta looked down at himself.  He wasn't wearing the faintest traces of his school uniform, but a pair of plain brown pants.  They had left him topless for easier access to his bandages, which were the only things that covered his torso.  He smirked at the thought of trying to restore his old clothes.  _It isn't as if they could be saved anyways,_ he thought.  Running through all that brush had torn his uniform up beyond repair.  WHY his sister had traveled for over a year in the Sengoku Jidai in her own school uniform he had no idea, but now he had an idea of why she finally decided to stop.

            _Well, it isn't as if I'd go on some quest in my school uniform anyways,_ Souta thought.  _I was simply taken here immediately.  I didn't have a choice._  His sister had been taken through the well suddenly too, and he could see why she wore her outfit then.

            _First order of business – find some new clothes_, he thought.  Preferably ones he could move around in – he hated school uniforms because they always felt like they restrained him too much – but he didn't want to be of any inconvenience the people that took him in anymore than he had already been.  He made his way to the door, when it opened.

            The girl he had saved, Shuang, stood in the doorway with fresh bandages in her hands.  There was another girl behind her, who Souta did not recognize, carrying a bottle and a bowl of water.  Both girls were about the same height, but the similarities ended there.

            The girl, Shuang, had long since taken off his bloodied and torn school uniform jacket, and now wore a simple blue shirt and a short gray skirt.  She wore simple sandals with no socks, and her appearance was over all clean cut.  Her hair was a light shade of brown, with seemingly sliver highlights.  They shown beautifully in the setting (or was it rising?) sun, for she had let her long hair cascade freely around her shoulders.  Her eyes were gray, and seemed to compliment her hair's highlights.

            The girl he didn't know had a darker shade of brown hair – almost black in hue – with red highlights.  She had it pulled back into a ponytail, but left a tendril on the right side of her face.  Her skin was more tanned than Shuang's, and ended up looking slightly copper in the partial sunlight.  The girl wore a green tank top and a black skirt that was short, but not as short as Shuang's.  She did not wear sandals, but a simple pair of shoes.

            They were both pretty, and Souta felt suddenly embarrassed at checking them out.  Was that any way to treat the ones who had helped him?  No, it was not.  He felt self-consious, and even more embarrassed when they blushed in response.

            Shuang took the initiative for the two women.  "I see that you've gotten your energy back," she smiled softly.  "Again, thank you so much for saving me."  She bowed, and he bowed in return.

            "It isn't a problem.  I was just lucky to have heard you scream at that moment," Souta countered.  If the goddess had delivered him any earlier or later, there was a good chance he would have not been able to do anything.

            "I know you must have just gotten up Mr. Souta, but could you please lie back again?" the woman asked politely.  "We need to clean your wound and change your dressings."  She moved to the side so he could see the woman he had never seen before better.  "This is my best friend Xing Xing.  This is her family's house – it was the first one we could get to when we came into town."

            Souta bowed to the lady.  "Thank you very much for your hospitality," he said formally.  "You don't have to call me "Mr." either."

            "It's the least we could do, you saved Shuang after all."  Souta slowly lied back down on his bed, and let the women begin their work.  They did not get far when there was another knock on the door.

            "Come in," Xing Xing said casually.  Souta didn't like the idea of there being an audience while his wounds were cleaned, but he wasn't in the position to question it either.

            Two men walked in, one appeared slightly older than Shuang, and had the same brownish and silvery hair.  The second seemed to be the girls' age, and had the same brown-red hair that Xing Xing had.  They seemed pleased that he was awake, and bowed towards the invalid.  Unable to bow, he waved his hand slightly in greeting.

            "I'm Ming Yue," the first man said.  "Thank you for saving my younger sister."

            "I'm De Wei," the second man continued.  "I am Xing Xing's twin brother, and you are currently staying in our house's guest room."

            "I'm Higurashi Souta," he introduced himself.  Before he could continue, the others begin to talk all around him.

            "I can't believe that the Forest Brothers were killed," Xing Xing said in an awed voice.

            "Forget that, I can't believe that _one person_ was able to take them all out.  We never stood a chance against them," De Wei said in an awed voice.

            "I was lucky," Souta tried to lessen his accomplishment, feeling more embarrassed by the minute.  "They were all distracted, and I caught them off guard.  I'd be in worse shape if they could see me coming."

            "We've tried that before, though," Shuang said sadly.  "No one came back."

            "But you did it with only a _wooden sword_," De Wei continued.  "We've gone up against them with katanas and machetes, and they snapped them in half."  Souta didn't know what to say about this.  If any of the villagers had any demon slaying experience, they would have already been able to defeat the demon.  He winced as Xing Xing cut his bandage off and began to remove it.  

            "How long have the "Forest Brothers," he said slowly, using the demons' names now, "been bothering you?"

            "For about a year," Shuang said slowly.  "They used to be civil, and generally kept to themselves inside the forest.  We didn't mind that much, since they never bothered anyone.  But a year ago…"

            "A year ago they went crazy," Ming Yue finished for her.  "They first refused to let us use a path that went near their house, killing and eating anyone who did."  The four shuddered at the memory.  "So, we agreed to stay away from them if they stayed away from us."

            "They had been extending their territory slowly for months now, and we weren't able to do anything about it.  More people would die, so soon we avoided them all together."

            _That doesn't explain much to me,_ Souta thought to himself, frustrated.  "Where am I, exactly?  I'm afraid I got a bit… lost… and I don't have any idea where I am."

            "You're in our town, Sanyurrin.  We are one of the more central towns in the Great Forest of Tougenkyou," Xing Xing said shortly.

            _Tougenkyou?  But that was in ancient Mainland China!_ Souta thought to himself frantically.  Not only was he not in the right time, he wasn't in the right place.  Had Kanzeon Bosatsu made a mistake?  No, the goddess had to know what she was doing – he hoped.  Souta willed himself not to show shock to the statement, and Xing Xing continued.

            "Demons inhabit the forest now, there is no way we can escape.  Once they find out that they Forest Brothers are gone…"

            "…I left you without a barrier," Souta realized.  _Yet they would have all been eaten eventually at the rate they were going…_

            "Don't worry about it," De Wei said with a smile.  "You killed four of the demon bastards.  We have four less to worry about now."

            Souta bit his tongue as Shuang began to clean his wound.  He took a peek at it, and saw that it wasn't deep.  In fact, it was already rapidly healing… _How the heck is THAT happening?_ He thought to himself.

            "You're lucky you only got that slash," Ming Yue commented.  "Boss was legendary for gutting his opponents with that move."

            "Boss?" Souta asked, confused.

            "That's what the leader always called himself," Shuang clarified.  "I couldn't believe how fast you moved!" she said, awed.  "It was almost as if you were superhuman!"

            Souta blushed at the comment.  _I'm not THAT good…_  "I just have experience, that's all."

            "What, do you kill demons on a regular basis?" Xing Xing asked, curious.  "I know there are squads out there who hunt demons, as well as a few individuals."

            All of them were now greatly interested in his response.  "Well, I didn't do it on a regular basis, only when they attacked my city.  Most of the demons I fought didn't have human shapes either."  Ok, so that last part was a lie, but he didn't want to make it sound like he was bragging by saying he took out four demons in humanoid form on his first try.  He also decided to neglect the fact that he hadn't fought a demon in several months.

            "Where do you come from?" Shuang asked politely.

            "Tokyo," _Like hell they will know where that is… it wasn't around during Sengoku Jidai, it won't be around now._

            "Where's that?" Ming Yue asked.

            "East."  It was a truthful answer; he'd stick with it.

            "It must be really small then, because I never heard of it before," Ming Yue commented.  _Right.  Tokyo is small._  Souta grinned.  He needed to tell Kagome that one…

            "I've heard that demon killers often meet other demon killers while they are out and about," Xing Xing said excitedly.  "Have you ever met the Sanzo-ikkou?"

            "Sanzo-ikkou?"  _Wait a minute… are they talking about the Sanzo from the "Journey to the West" legend?_

            "You don't know who the Sanzo-ikkou are?!" the four suddenly exclaimed.

            "Man, Tokyo must REALLY be far to the East, if you haven't heard of them," De Wei laughed.

            "Isn't Sanzo a priest?" Souta questioned carefully.

            "Yeah, but he travels with three demons and together they kill any demon that crosses them!" Xing Xing said breathlessly.  "They show no mercy, according to the rumors.  I wish they came through and wiped all the demons out of the forest for us…"

            _They don't sound like the legend I grew up with.  Kanzeon Bosatsu is right; we did screw the legend up royally.  But it doesn't sound like they would be _exactly _like that from what I read in the book…_  It wasn't only that, but he had a feeling somewhere in his heart that they were not like that.  _Still, if it is really the time period of "The Journey to the West," then I'm in the seventh century.  Damn, I overshot the Sengoku Jidai by about eight centuries…_

            "No, I haven't met them," Souta assured them.  "I'm not a formal demon killer anyways."  This time he did hiss as Shuang began to put the solvent on his wound.

            "I'm sorry," she apologized, "But the medicine has to go on like this if it is to work properly."  Souta watched with amazement as he saw his wound rapidly close, to appear as if the skin had never been broken.  Well, that wasn't completely true, the area was still a bit pink, and it ached, even if it was less.

            "It makes my skin crawl every time I see that…" Ming Yue said in awe.  "No pun intended," he added as an afterthought.

            "Me too…" agreed De Wei.

            "How did, how did…" he stuttered in disbelief, "How did you do that?"

            Shuang smiled.  "Before the demons went insane, there was a world famous medicine man that lived in the village close by.  This medicine can be kept for years and still remain effective.  It is a very expensive and rare medication, but it is our way of thanking you for what you've done."  She proceeded to wash his stomach now with the rag from the bowl, wiping up the excess medicine.  When his torso was clean, she proceeded to apply the same medication yet again.  This time, however, she began to wrap the bandage around his stomach.

            "You are technically healed now, and I see that you have most of your energy back," she said quietly.  "However, this bandage needs to remain on for at least another day before the pain will completely go away.  Until then, it should be a dull ache.  Sorry."

            Souta waved the apology away.  "I can deal with it.  I didn't expect to be healed in so short of a time anyways."  He noticed that the shadows on his bed were a little bit longer than what they had been before.  _So the sun was setting…_ he realized.  It made sense now.  They would have been significantly more tired had they just woken up.

            _I'm an idiot,_ he thought.  _My mind won't work right when it is tired…_  Despite having finally woken up, he felt the incredible urge to go back to sleep again.

            "Don't worry, we'll let you sleep," Ming Yue said with a laugh.  "That medicine ALWAYS makes a person drowsy.  It is a part of how it works."  With that, the four people took their leave, and let him go to sleep.

            A voice was calling out to him.  It was so familiar, and brought him to attention.  Staring through blank eyes, the Fighting God Crown Prince Nataku appeared to have no change in reaction to this, even if his mind was reeling.

            _It belongs to someone… someone I know…_ he pondered.  The fighting god focused all of his concentration on the voice that called out to him.  He had heard it before, but his mind was too muddy from being catatonic for five hundred years to figure it out at first.  The more he concentrated, the more the voice became familiar.

            Soon, his actual name stopped being said every time the _presence_ called out to him, but he could still feel the longing.  Whoever was calling to him wanted to see him, and to see him badly.  The voice sounded as if it was full of pain, as if the guilt from some unseen action were to break his heart.

            _That isn't like him,_ Nataku thought fleetingly.  _He is always so cheerful, so energetic.  Sadness doesn't really suit him._  Where had that come from?  Nataku couldn't remember… his mind wouldn't let him connect the dots to complete the picture.  The god had the feeling as if he could just remember who was calling to him, he could wake up.  _Why had I fallen asleep anyways?_ He wondered.

            The soundless voice grew louder, and images of a young boy in chains started to flash through his mind.  His hair was a beautiful shade of brown, and was fell in long strands on his back.  A golden coronet bound his forehead, and Nataku could tell that it was a youkai power limiter.  So this mysterious boy was a demon…

            _No… he's not._ Nataku remembered.  _He was a gift from earth to heaven – an earth spirit.  Related very closely to a demon, he's bound by the same chains of blood that the demons are.  But he is still different…_

            How had he remembered that?  Things were becoming clearer, as if the scenery in front of him was slowly coming into focus.  The boy laughed in the memory, and opened his eyes.

            Nataku was shocked.  The boy had golden eyes – the eyes of a heretic – 

            They shared the same color eyes.  They were both cursed by kami-sama to be considered forever different – forever looked down upon.  The image faded, no matter how he tried to hold onto it.

            The voice called up to him again, in anguish.

            "NATAKU!"

            Memories of a different sort filled his mind again.  There was a sea of blood, and one figure sat in the center of it.

            It was the boy…

            _The Great Sage Equal to Heaven… Seitan Taisei_…

            "GOKU!"

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About Nataku knowing Goku's name… that will be explained later.  The storyline is going AU for Saiyuki as well, since I started in the middle of it.

Comments and criticisms appreciated.  Thanks for reading, see you in the next chapter!

-Iapetus


	8. Fall Through

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

Disclaimer:  I still don't own either series.

Beta Readers:  Kenren Taishou and Truth to Madness

Well, this chapter was delayed due to some personal problems in my life, one of them being that my Great-Grandmother died on Valentines Day.  I have winter break this week in school, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up on my writing, among other things.

Thank you for all of your support for this story by reviewing.  They really make my day.  ^^  Review responses can be found on my writing Live Journal for February 23, 2004.

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Chapter 8:  Fall Through

            Nataku had screamed out the boy's name, the world instantly coming into sharp relief.  Life returned to his eyes as the pupils returned to their rightful spots; his expression growing wide with shock.

            A brilliant light filled the chamber he was in, but he did not see it extend to all of Heaven.  The holy light revitalized his body, breathing life back into what was once a catatonic and lifeless shell.  He felt more alive than he had even before he had fallen "asleep," and rose from the chair he had been sitting in for over five hundred years.

            Almost as suddenly as he had regained his energy, Nataku felt himself beginning to fade again.  It wasn't like the last time – that time he had fallen into an "endless" sleep – but it seemed as if he were suffering from lack of energy.  He was about to faint…

            But if he were to faint, why did the room seem to flicker?  He had fainted before and this had never happened.  _Why do I have the sensation that I'm falling?_ He wondered fleetingly.  _It's as if I'm being banished from heaven…_  His vision darkened as the falling sensation seemed to grow in speed.

            _What's happening to me?_ He thought lazily.  For some reason, he wasn't too concerned.

            "Heaven had given you up for dead.  There is no way you can come back to life, or so they thought," a familiar voice called out to him in his head.

            "Was I really that bad, Kanzeon?" Nataku smiled faintly.

            "You haven't moved in five hundred years.  Even your father Li Touten gave up hope, although that isn't saying much."

            Nataku felt a hate grow in his heart.  While he could not yet remember everything after his waking up, he remembered a rage towards the man he called his father.  There was another emotion there too… but he couldn't place what it was.  Was it loyalty?  Why would he be loyal to a man who had caused him so much rage?

            "Heaven cannot accept you anymore, because another has been found to replace your position as the Prince of War.  Even if it is not your fault, you are being banished until you can prove your worth again," Nataku knew that if he could see the Merciful Goddess at that moment, she would probably be rolling her eyes.  She had been one of the few people in heaven to see beyond his golden eyes, as she had with Goku.  Kanzeon Bosatsu was the one goddess he knew he could trust at the moment.

            "I never said I wanted to go back," Nataku said vehemently.  "What is there that I could possibly want?"  _I want to see Goku,_ he thought desperately.  _I want to apologize for everything…_

Wait, what did he have to apologize about?  He was guilty of something he could not remember.

            "Well, you can make your decision to come back to heaven later," the goddess told him.  "Regain your memories, and discover who you really are, not what your father wanted you to be.  Everyone was born for a reason, and you are more than simply a tool for your father and Heaven's use.  You are much more than that."

            The former fighting god felt his body land softly on the ground of the earth, and he marveled at the texture of the moss against his back.  He could not move – his energy was still gone.  However, before he dropped off to a deep sleep once again, he asked the goddess of mercy one last question.

            "How am I supposed to do this?" he demanded.

            "It wouldn't be any fun if I told you that," she laughed.  "But finish what you started.  You'll know of what I speak in due time."  With that, her voice vanished, and Nataku fell into a deep sleep.  This time, however, his eyes were closed.

            As Kagura walked down the hallway towards her master's main chamber, she pondered the object in her hand.  While she had no idea what it was, Naraku had said that anything would work, as long as it was from the future.  The wind demon didn't know why an object from the future would help them travel into the past, but she did not question her Master's commands.  No matter how much she hated the vile half demon, he knew what he was doing.  No one ever called Naraku a fool.

            Whatever the spider demon was about to do was definitely obscure.  Kagura had never heard of a spell to send one back in time – only two paradoxes existed in the world.  The first was Inu Yasha, who had somehow been resurrected from hell itself.  The dead priestess Kikyo's situation did not count, since her life was "restored" to her due to a mountain witch demon's herbal magic.  No, the other paradox was the well that the woman Kagome traveled through.

            In an epic battle, Naraku had tried to pass through the well to Kagome's time, but had not succeeded, even with the possession of Shikon Shards.  He had lost a third of his body in that fight, and it took him a month of organ swapping to bring him back to the standard he was before.  The dog demon's rage towards his attempts at trying to attack the priestess while she was at home infuriated him, and Kagura, at that time, had truly been scared of face the half demon.  By his appearance, the demon blood flowing within his veins threatened to take superiority, just so that he could kill his adversaries.

            Kagura pushed this bad thought out of her mind as she walked into the chamber without knocking.  Naraku, who would usually quietly reprimand her for her brashness, said nothing.  He was again staring into Kanna's enchanted mirror, transfixed on the contents inside.  _I wonder if it is someone's soul, or just a vision…  _She had little time to think further, for Naraku turned his attention to her.

            "Welcome back, Kagura," he said quietly.  "Did you find what you were looking for?"

            _You mean what _you_ were looking for,_ Kagura thought darkly.  "Yes, I was able to find it," she answered politely.  Trying to hide the acidity in her persona, she walked over to her "father" and handed him the object.

            "I found it outside the well.  It appears as if she dropped it unknowingly, because she did not seem to miss it while talking with her companions," Kagura pointed out.

            "What is it?" the spider demon wondered.

            "I have no idea," Kagura said truthfully.  "Will it work?"  _I don't care if he has his heart in my hand, there is no WAY I'm going after another object of the miko's.  She rarely drops anything at all._

            "Yes, it should work," Naraku reassured.  "In fact, this will work better than I hoped."  He smiled wickedly and continued.  "See?" he held out the object.  She had seen enough of it not to have to see it again, but was obliged by her master to look at the device once more.  Slowly, he twirled the small and thin rod in his fingers.  "It will spin nicely."

            _What does spinning have to do with anything?_  "How are you planning on doing this, Naraku?  I've never heard of a curse or spell to manipulate time."

            He smiled, a small smile, as he lowered the object from the air.  "That actually came to me in a dream.  A god saw that I wanted to go back in time, and told me how.  He didn't seem very happy about heaven, so I knew I could trust him."

            _Why would a god tell a demon like Naraku how  to mess with time?_ Kagura pondered.  _When a person messes with time, they mess with their own lives.  I have no idea why the woman, Kagome, keeps traveling back here when she risks changing her own future._  There were times, of course, when Kagura realized that Kagome did not care about changing the future.  But the woman was still human, and humans were not perfect.

            "I have simply been waiting for an opportunity to implement the curse, and the conditions have finally become perfect.  The time is now."  He pulled out the polluted fragment of the Shikon no Tama with his left hand, and motioned for Kanna to set her mirror on the ground.  The white demon sprinkled some herbs on the surface of the mirror, and then fell back to Kagura's side.  Kagura watched with interest as her master continued with the plan.

            "How does an object from the future help you go back in the past?" Kagura questioned.  "That doesn't make any sense."

            "An object from another time is not supposed to exist in this one.  Each one is a hole waiting to be filled from within the void through the time stream that was created.  If one can shift this void into the opposite direction…"

            Kagura knew that this process was risky.  Time traveling was always a fickle thing.

            Setting down the object on the mirror, he began to concentrate his energy into the Shikon no Tama.  It was something he rarely did, for it alerted others to his true presence, and not some golem.  Holding the enormous shard above the mirror's center, Kagura noticed the object beginning to rotate to the left.  She briefly remembered the priestess mentioning it in one of their battles at some odd point as being "counter clock wise."  Why she remembered that now, she didn't know.  As the shard came closer to it, the object moved faster whilst as the shared moved away from have a normal sense of humor), he might have played with this effect for several minutes.  However, Naraku had never been normal.

            Suddenly, the object stopped spinning, and pointed itself firmly in one direction.  The corners of Naraku's mouth twisted upwards in an insane grin as the mirror began to shimmer in an eerie pink light.  There seemed to be another color mixed in with the others, and Kagura was reminded strongly of yellow.  At least, she thought it was yellow.  For some reason, she could not be sure.  The room suddenly began to flicker ominously, and Kagura fought the urge to cry out in alarm.  _So I'm going with him?_ She thought slyly.  _Well, it isn't like he could ignore me.  I'm a part of him._  Kagura's mind suddenly began to blur, and she could not focus on either her master or her older sister.  _What is going on?_

            With one last blast of energy, Kagura could feel herself being pulled, by what part of her body she did not know, away from the castle walls.  However, as they passed through the blackness of time, the wind demon began to loose her demonic energy.

            _Damn you, Naraku!_ She cursed her master.  _You don't want to suffer as much so you draw on us…_  Kagura couldn't finish the thought.  She felt her mind fade as she fell into a daze.  She vaguely felt herself land onto the ground of the past before the darkness consumed her.

            The sun streamed down through the open roof and into the courtyard, spilling it's light onto the water lily covered pond.  While the sight was truly beautiful to mortal eyes, its appearance never changed.  The only thing that kept a certain bodhisattva from being bored out of her mind was the reflection in the water.

            It was what kept her from going insane on many occasions; with all the formality and traditions she had to deal with in Tenkai.  She wondered fleetingly if her nephew would have been as bored as much as he has been had he had access to such a novelty.

            No, he had to wait for his heavenly "distraction," just like she did a long time ago.  His had come in the form of an actual living creature, and the bodhisattva had to admit to herself that she hadn't watched her pond as closely during the rest of her nephew and his pet's stay in Tenkai.  While Tenkai didn't like being shaken up by the little heretic, she personally believed that it needed it.

            Kanzeon Bosatsu looked down at the water with a smile on her face.  She generally tried not to meddle in the events of humans and demons, except when things proved to be boring.  The Gods were not there to lord over humans and demons, but to watch over them.  Apart from one instance, where her nephew had threatened to die again, she had not touched anything regarding the flow of human life.  That was, until now.

              While their journey was proving to be highly interesting already, Kanzeon couldn't help but throw a wild card into the deck.  It wasn't good for someone to think that they had everything planned out.  Where was the fun in that?  She wanted this to be unpredictable to all sides concerned.

            Not a soul in Heaven or Hell could have predicted that her dear nephew would have mysterious dreams of a foreign priestess from another time.  The corners of her mouth rose even higher at the thought.  Yes, she had looked inside her nephew's dreams, and had been surprised to find another soul with him.  "Imouto," as he called her, had a soul similar to his own.

            The Goddess had been surprised to find out when she peered into the future, which she rarely did, that the woman in question was born approximately thirteen centuries later.

            It was there that she had found the woman's younger brother.  He was a skilled fighter, and had also been born with the powers of a priest.  Higurashi Souta was not nearly as powerful as his sister, even if he didn't realize he had any spiritual power at all.  Powerful priests and priestesses did not obtain their power by meditation or devotion – they were born with it.  The goddess smirked at the notion of how the grandfather of these two individuals could be so different from them.  He was devoted to the faith, and yet had no power.

            Tenkai had also not counted on Nataku ever waking up from his catatonic sleep.  After the disaster five hundred years ago, the Jade Emperor forbade more than one heretic residing in heaven.  It wouldn't be long until the rest of heaven discovered the former Prince of War's disappearance, but by the time they did, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.  Gods were not to meddle in the affairs of humans, but leave them to their own devices.  A banished god could do what he desired until the rest of heaven decided to finally deal with him.  Oh, what she would do for that kind of freedom…

            She could hear Jiroushin approach, and turned her gaze away from the water.  The game would continue, even if the other sides didn't realize that she had started to play her own hand.

            The uncomfortable silence has long since faded.  Kagome was glad, she didn't like the others taking pity on her.  It wasn't good to dwell on what she couldn't prevent.  They had a job to do, and she was going to help them do it.

            "We need to do an extortion sometime soon," commented Miroku.  "Our supplies are running short."

            "Don't you mean _pretend there is a demon at a lord's house and steal all of his valuables_?" Shippou asked dubiously.

            "Or blackmail him in some way?" Sango put in, eyeing the monk with distaste.

            "Stealing and blackmailing are harsh words," the monk smiled reassuringly.  "I like to think of it as borrowing."

            "You corrupt monk!  You never change!" Inu Yasha said bluntly.  "We don't need those supplies anyways. I don't know what you're talking about."

            "Well, ever since Kagome-chan decided to bring back only what she needed essentially, we no longer have her food source to depend on."  The female demon exterminator pushed a long strand of her black hair behind her ear, and looked straight ahead.  "And unless you want to live off of Houshi-sama's snakes and frogs, I suggest that we make a stop at the next village."

            "Oh, Sango-sama, is my cooking really that bad?" Miroku asked in a mockingly hurt voice.

            "You didn't bring any ramen noodles with you?" Inu Yasha asked Kagome, worried.

            "No.  There's no way I can bring enough to last a full year, and I needed a smaller bag.  My backpack would only get in the way later."

            "You could have brought SOME back," the half demon grumbled.

            "Hah!  Stupid Inu Yasha!" Shippou laughed.  "You're supposed to be a dog demon.  Can't you scavenge for your own food yourself?  You're pathetic."

            Kagome rolled her eyes in response to that comment.

            "Oh yeah?" Inu Yasha challenged.  "Hey Kagome, did you bring any candy with you?"

            She shook her head.  "No, I don't have room for any of that stuff.  _I_ don't mind Miroku-sama's cooking."

            "Thank you, Kagome-sama!" the monk found his way to the miko's side.  "You don't know how much this means to me!"

            "What?!" Shippou exclaimed, "No candy?"

            "Don't get any ideas, Houshi-sama," Sango said in a dangerous voice.  Her hand was twitching on the hold of her boomerang strap, and the perverted priest decided it might not be a good idea to grope Kagome in thanks.

            "Now who's pathetic, Shippou-_chan_?" Inu Yasha emphasized.  "You always talk about how you're a full-blooded demon and I'm not.  You're a fox demon; you should be able to find your own food too."

            "Don't call me little!" The fox demon said hotly.  "I passed my coming of age rights with flying colors."

            "Ah, yes." Miroku smiled.  "Young Shippo is no longer a child.  And is it not true, dear Sango-sama, that dogs are better scavengers than foxes?" He grinned evilly, especially when the demon exterminator caught on.

            "I must disagree with you, honorable Houshi-sama."  Kagome had to stifle a giggle before Sango continued.  "My experience with both dogs and foxes leads me to believe that foxes are better scavengers.  However," Kagome could barely contain her laughter now, "it is MUCH easier to train a dog."

            "What are you implying, Sango?" Inu Yasha said hotly.

            "That you could be trained more easily than Shippo," she remarked simply.

            "No one will ever tame me!" the half demon said defiantly.

            "Sit."

            The young man's body slammed into the ground as he let out a frustrated growl.

            "What was that for?" he asked in indignation.

            "To help prove a point," Kagome said simply.  "That's all."

            The half demon growled, and got up.  Kagome found it amusing that he always forgot about how the three humans would come to the fox demon's aid whenever he was teased.  Only Kagome would defend him when he was teased, and she didn't do it that often, anyways.  The three humans found the pastime amusing, especially when both demons hated them coming to their defense.  Well, they pretended to, anyways.  Kagome thought they kind of enjoyed it.

            Suddenly, the young woman could feel two things simultaneously.  The first was the sensation that a Shikon shard was headed in their direction.  The second feeling was that she knew the presence.  Kagome focused her senses in an attempt to discern the user's identity before he or she appeared.  It was not only familiar to her because she had seen this person before, but also…

            Inu Yasha's eyes narrowed in hatred and thirst to prove himself.  Kagome could tell by his reaction alone that she had been right, even before the person in question appeared before them.  Had Kouga approached them, the hanyou would have had a slightly more laid back approach to his reaction.  He would have been aggravated that the wolf demon had come to pester them again and try to take Kagome away, but the two demons' relationship had developed into the kind of friendship that has constant fighting.  Had the person been a random demon, Inu Yasha would have probably just rolled his eyes in annoyance.  No, only one person earned this particular look.

            Sesshomaru stepped out from behind a tree nonchalantly; the impassive look displayed on his face as always.  Kagome's eye focused naturally on the shard that was implanted in the dog demon's upper right arm.  Somehow, they weren't completely sure how, Sesshomaru had had his arm restored from his father's grave.  He claimed to be using the shard to help heal his arm, and that was all.  The demon had his pride, and wanted his arm to be restored so that he would not have to depend on others.  Of course he never said that, but Kagome could see it in his eyes.

            How was it that both Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru could be so much alike and yet be so different at the same time?  Myoga had once said that they were too alike for their own good, and were exactly like their father.  As Inu Yasha reached full demon adulthood, the resemblance became rather striking.

            "What do you want, Sesshomaru?" Inu Yasha demanded hotly.

            "What does he always want?" Miroku asked the half-breed.

            "The Tetsusaiga," responded Shippo.

            "Inu Yasha's life," answered Sango.

            "Possibly more shards to heal his arm," put in the priest.

            Kagome, due to the fact that the other obvious answers had been taken, chose not to reply.

            "You should listen to your companions, dear little brother," Sesshomaru said casually.

            "Sesshomaru-sama, why do you want these Shikon shards and not the one that we found awhile back?"  It was a voice that belonged to one of the creatures that grated on her nerves the most, Jaken.  Kagome had never liked him, ever since he helped his lord travel into the Great Inu-daiymo's grave.  He was just a little toad who was willing to gang up on people, and Kagome couldn't stand him.

            "Because he said it was a trap, Jaken!"  A young female voice said from further in the forest.  As she stepped into view, Kagome realized it was Rin, who was now a teenager like Shippo.

            "Ah, I'll bet our good friend Naraku probably placed it there for Lord Sesshomaru to find," Miroku said in a matter-of-fact tone.

            "You'd think that he'd realize that we'd see through that by now," Sango rolled her eyes.

            "I'm sure you would not be able to, dear brother," Sesshomaru smirked as he moved to attack.  However, he stopped suddenly in his tracks.  A terrible sense of foreboding had descended on the whole group, and could not be ignored.  Inu Yasha, who had opened his mouth to combat the insult, closed it quickly. 

            Kagome felt as if she was in an earthquake, but the ground wasn't shaking.  Despite her attempts to remain standing, she fell to the ground.  Her right hand immediately grasped the Shikon shard, trying to draw strength from it to help this terrible feeling pass.  When that didn't work (in fact, it made it worse), she grasped the grass in an attempt to regain a sense of balance.  It was impossible to let go of the Shikon shard – Kagome felt that something terrible would happen if she did.  She looked around at her friends, trying to gauge how they were reacting to this.

            Sesshomaru had not fallen to the ground like she had, but was down on one knee, clutching his right arm.  His breath was ragged, as if he had just run a great distance.  Pain was in his eyes, like what Kagome could feel in her own.

            "My lord!"  Jaken said in a concerned voice, running to his master's side.  Rin was close behind him.  "What's wrong?"  He seemed impervious to the magical pressure, along with the teenage girl.  Kagome's companions were not so lucky.

            Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and Inu Yasha had not been brought to their knees, but it looked as if it was difficult for them to stand.  Sango braced herself against her boomerang and motioned for Kirara to jump into her free arm.  Inu Yasha defiantly refused to use his Tetsusaiga for support, but gritted his teeth against this mysterious force.  Shippou pushed his hand into a nearby tree for support.

            "What's going on?" he asked in a ragged voice.

            Miroku was supporting himself with his staff as he replied.  "Look at the Shikon shards…" his voice was also harried.

            Their gazes turned to Kagome's large shard first, then to the Sesshomaru's arm.  They were glowing brightly, and in an unusual color.  Its aura was pink as always, but there seemed to be something else.  _Is it yellow?  I can't make it out…_ Kagome thought, frustrated.

            She looked up, and noticed that her friends were also glowing.  It was odd, since she couldn't actually see any light, or where it was focused upon.  It was more like a feeling… as if their battles were less severe… or something like that.

            A feeling was growing in her heart that she could not ignore.  Crying out, Kagome fought against the pain in her chest – the sensation that an invisible hand was trying to rip her apart.

            _Where is the attacker?_ Kagome tried to focus.  _What is going on?_

            Before she could even consider how to answer the two questions, waves of energy swept through her body, making her feel unbearably hot.  Her vision blurred and her eyes began to roll into the back of her head.  Surely she was about to die…

            _I'm going to die from something that I don't even know what it is?_ Kagome mentally demanded to herself.  She couldn't accept that.  Focusing all of her willpower on her mind, she forced her vision to focus.

            The others were writhing as she was, but something else was happening.  They were disappearing.  She tried to call out to them, but nothing came out of her mouth.  She noticed the scenery begin to flicker, as if a scratch had appeared on a movie reel.  The flickering increased in frequency, and her friends faded away.

            Unable to take anymore, the young miko tried to find something for her mind to focus on.  Her mind blanking out, she instinctively reached for the first presence her mind could recognize**.  **The identity of the person shocked her immediately back into awareness.

            "Oniisan?"

            The backseat of the jeep was being unusually silent for that time of day.  Sanzo knew that he should be enjoying the quiet while it lasted, but it put him on edge.  It disturbed him to see his companions act as if nothing had happened the night before.  Well, to them nothing _had_ happened, even if they knew something wasn't right.

            Gojyo would have generally dismissed a gap in his memory as the result of getting drunk, but he would always remember going out to the bar the night before.  The fact that he also did not have a hanger ruled that particular option out.

            Hakkai (who Gojyo had never been able to get drunk) also seemed to be bothered by not being able to recall his memories.  His eyebrows would often furrow together when he thought no one was looking, and he seemed distracted every time the priest looked in his direction.  The driver should concentrate on the road, but the way the green-eyed demon was watching it, it was as if they were on the edge of a cliff.  In truth, they hadn't driven such good roads in weeks.

            While Hakkai and Gojyo had attempted to hide their apprehension, the monkey had not been so discreet.  He had woken up depressed, and had even refused to eat breakfast.  It was the first time Sanzo could ever remember ordering Goku to eat a meal.  The priest knew that his "pet" never did stay depressed for long, and when he was feeling better the first thing that would come out of his mouth would be –

            ……

            That was odd.  They monkey had always interrupted his thoughts in moments like these.  Curious, he looked at the young man through the reflection of the rear view mirror.

            He was reading something, which surprised Sanzo.  Goku had never been known to willingly sit down and read _anything_ quietly, even when he was interested in the topic.  He would usually read out loud, or comment on almost every single line.  Yet, as the monk studied his charge's face, he saw a similar expression to the one Hakkai had.  Goku was trying to figure something out, and it appeared as if he thought the answer was in that book.

            Sanzo knew the contemplative mood couldn't last forever.

            "Hey, what are you reading?" Gojyo asked as he noticed Goku's concentrated face.

            _Bingo._

            Goku jumped slightly at the voice.  "Nothing," he said quickly.

            Sanzo watched with interest as the scene played out.  _He was so involved with that book that _Gojyo_ surprised him?_

            An attempt was made to hide the book before they saw what it was, but Gojyo grabbed it while simultaneously holding the younger man back at arms length.  "Yeah right it's nothing, what could possibly shut you up for so long?"  He turned the book over to see the cover.

            "_The Adventures of Anpan?_  You have got to be kidding me."

            "Give it back, Gojyo!"

            "Hey, at least you're reading at your age level.  Isn't it for kids who are around five years old?"

            "Shut up and give me my manga back!"  He knocked Gojyo's hand away and dived for the other arm.  The water sprite simply had the tankoubun change hands so that it was still out of reach.

            "Calm down back there, you two," Hakkai called out in conditioned response to the noise.  As usual, they didn't pay attention to their driver.

            "I don't care if it's for little kids!" Goku said hotly.  "That manga means a lot to me!  I don't want you to mess it up, you perverted water sprite!"

            _I don't remember Goku every caring about manga before,_ Sanzo thought to himself.  _In fact the temple never allowed it on the premises.  I would have known if he had snuck some into his room._

            Sanzo usually would have cared less about what the water sprite and monkey were fighting about, but something in Goku's expression made this fight different from the others.  It was as if he was desperate.

            "I've never seen you with it before, you must have just got it.  How can it mean that much to you?"

            The priest could finally take no more.  Turning around, he hit the two over their heads with his paper fan.

            "That hurts!" Goku covered his head with his hands, momentarily releasing Gojyo.

            "What was that for, you damn monk?" Gojyo demanded hotly.

            "You were both being annoying.  Shut up and give him his damn manga back."

            "Why should I-" the half demon's comments were stopped by the barrel of a Smith and Wesson pointed in his direction.  After a couple seconds of glaring at each other, he tossed the tankoubun back into Goku's lap.

            "I'm sorry," Hakkai apologized.

            "Why should you be sorry, Hakkai?" Sanzo questioned, slightly suspicious.

            "I'm the one who bought that manga for Goku; it was when we were out shopping earlier today.  I know that we aren't supposed to have any extra baggage, but it seemed like he really wanted it.  He wanted it more than the meat buns from the vendors in the next stand-"

            Hakkai statement was cut short as the jeep was brought to a screeching halt, sending his two backseat companions head first into the dashboard and almost through the windshield.  Hakaryu protested as Hakkai tried to calm him down.

            "I'm sorry, Hakaryu, I didn't mean to stop that quickly."  He paused as the dragon continued to speak.  "No, Gojyo and Goku did _not_ hit you on purpose…"

            "Ow, that hurt." Goku rubbed his head as he moved back into his seat.

            The priest would have normally hammered the both of them into the floor of the jeep with his paper fan, but there was something else that prevented him from doing so.

            As Gojyo and Goku both sat back in their seats, he watched them quietly.  _So they noticed it too – some kind of foreign chi just appeared out of nowhere…_

            "What the hell just happened?" Gojyo asked the obvious question.  His voice was irritated, and Sanzo knew exactly why.  They couldn't pinpoint the odd feeling that chi gave them.

            It was all around them.  He didn't feel as though it were some kind of ambush, whatever "it" was didn't seem very interested in them.  In fact, "it" didn't move.

            Sanzo searched the new power signatures and tried to grapple with what he felt.  It was too far away to feel it more specifically, but he could sense an enormous youki.  It made him feel sick inside – like that presence was the vilest thing that had ever existed.

            Sanzo tried to clear his mind of his own thoughts and focused on the other presences.  There were too many.  He couldn't separate them from such a distance, but…

            He heard a familiar voice call out to him.  It was confused, and desperate for answers.

            _Oniisan?_ He heard the voice whisper in his mind.  _Oniisan, are you really here?_  Her voice was weak, as if her energy had been drained from her.

            _Imouto?_  Sanzo replied, trying to discern where she was.

            Both Sanzo and the voice seemed shocked that they had actually heard one another.  _What the hell is happening?_ The priest thought, confused.

            She sounded more bewildered than he was.  _Where are we?_

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Due to the problems I've been having, I do not know when the next chapter will be out.  Over half of it is written, but one part is giving me a lot of problems.  *glares at Sanzo*  Hopefully it will be done soon.

Comments and criticisms appreciated!  ^^

-Iapetus


	9. Minus Wave

Kindred Spirits

In Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

**Disclaimer:**  Nope, I still don't own the rights to either series.

***special thanks to GW Katrina for help on this chapter***

Responses for reviews can be found in the link in my bio.  I'm not going to be posting them on Live Journal anymore.

I want to point something out.  Unless my plot does a complete turnaround, there will not any pairings in this story.  There shall be romantic tension, but no getting together.  Again, unless my plot REALLY surprises me, I'm not even going to THINK about making this Sanzo/Kagome.  Their relationship is like that of siblings.

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Chapter 9:  Minus Wave

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            "Imouto?"  Kagome felt as if she heard the voice from inside her mind.  She shook her head slightly.  _Am I going crazy?_ Had whatever happened unhinged something in her mind?  As she slowly came to a more aware state of mind, she was shocked as she realized who the voice was.

            _Oniisan, are you really in this time?_  As her mind grew more aware and out of the dazed state she had previously been in, the connection seemed to fade.  She could still sense him a far ways away, but it was the fact that she could sense him at all that startled her the most.

            However, as much as she wanted to figure out where her "older brother" was, she had to worry about herself first.  Kagome had been the first person to come around after falling – or whatever one wanted to call it – and landing in the middle of a road going through a forest.  She could see in the distance that there was a town, but it didn't look like any of the villages from the Sengoku Jidai.  The priestess knew that they had traveled through time somehow, because while the sensation of being pulled away was painful, there was also the feeling that she got whenever she jumped into the well.

            A moan coming from her right side brought her more aware of her surroundings.  Shippo held his left hand on his forehead as he supported his body with his right.  In the middle of the road Inu Yasha pushed himself up into a sitting position.  Miroku and Sango used their staff and boomerang respectively to help them stand up and keep their center of gravity.  Everyone seemed to be off balance, and didn't quite know how to react.  It wasn't only that, but there wasn't something right about the air…

            "What the hell just happened?" Inu Yasha asked as he stood up.

            "We appear to not be where we once were," Miroku said simply.

            Inu Yasha rolled his eyes.  "Well, _that's_ obvious…"

            "It feels like we traveled in time," Kagome used a tree that stood next to where she had landed to help herself brace herself as she stood up.  "I'm not to sure of the direction, but I think we went backwards."  At least, that was what it felt like.

            "How is that possible?" Shippo asked.  "You can only travel through time by using the well, and only you and Inu Yasha were able to use it before.  How did _we_ end up here if we could never travel through time before?"

            Kagome did not have an answer for that one, and neither did Inu Yasha.

            "Sesshomaru is not here either," Sango noted.  "Or Jaken and Rin."

            "Who cares about them," Inu Yasha said in a disgusted tone of voice.

            "I would rather know where he is then to not know where he is," Miroku stated.  "If you all remember, he was suffering from the pain like the rest of us.  He could have fallen into this area too."

            Inu Yasha sniffed the air and shook his head.  "I don't smell him…" Shippo nodded in agreement.

            "I don't sense any other Shikon shards nearby," Kagome commented.  "But…"

            The priestess' statement was cut off suddenly as Shippo fell to the ground, holding his head in his hands.  Sango started to walk towards him, but the kitsune quickly fell backward in an attempt to distance himself from the woman.

            "Don't come near me!" he whispered in a strained voice.   "Something's wrong with my head…"

            Inu Yasha raised his eyebrows and did the exact opposite of the younger demon's request.  Face contorted in pain, recognition seemed to slowly seep out of out of the fox's eyes.

            "How… are you not reacting to it…?" Shippo forced the words out to the dog demon.

            Inu Yasha smirked at the writhing figure, masking his concern.  "Because I'm stronger than you, little fox."  His eyes grew serious when the kitsune didn't rise to his taunt.  "Snap out of it!"  He grabbed the teenage demon by the front of his clothes and looked him in the eye.

            Shippo's eyes glazed over, and his body became limp.  Confusion filled Inu Yasha's face, and he relaxed his grip on the demon's clothes slightly.  Kagome looked over quickly at her other companions.  Miroku absentmindedly fingered the prayer beads that bound his arm with his right hand; a habit he had developed when he was deep in thought.  Sango simply appeared to have her guard up, unsure how to react to the situation.  Kirara's hair seemed to stand on end, and the little cat prepared itself to possibly transform into it's larger form.

            "You limit your power by choice…" Shippo said in a distant voice that did not sound like his own.  "Or, maybe you don't realize it…" His eyes shifted from the glazed appearance to one that she had never seen before.  Bloodlust filled his eyes, and it appeared that he wanted to lunge out at something.  In a lightning quick move that Kagome had only seen Shippo use in the heat of battle, the kitsune lunged for the prayer beads around the half demon's neck.  He instinctively drew back, and caught both of Shippo's wrists with his hands.  The fox demon's right hand, however, clutched the rosary tightly.  A look of triumph appeared on his face.

            "Take this off, and we can go back to where we truly belong.  You can't hear our master calling us with those around your neck."  He struggled against his captor's grip to try and break the rosary.  Inu Yasha responded by smirking as he tightened his grip on Shippo's wrist, slowly forcing the fox demon to let go of the prayer beads.

            "Baka," he laughed at the fox as he narrowed his eyes, "I've never had a master.  And don't you think I've tried to take off that rosary before?"

            Shippo drew back slightly, his now cold eyes calculating.  "So it _isn't_ by choice..."

            "Shippo, don't you recognize us?" Kagome pleaded with her friend.  She wasn't foolish enough to approach the two demons, but she couldn't stand remaining silent anymore.  The air around her seemed to grow thicker, and swirl around the area the two demons were standing in.

            "I don't associate with your kind, you bitch."

            Kagome was taken aback by his words.  This wasn't right… Shippo never talked to her like this.  _He_ always was the one to start getting on Inu Yasha's case whenever they'd have a fight…

            Inu Yasha let go of one of Shippo's wrists long enough to smack him across the face.  "Don't you _ever_ talk to Kagome like that again," he threatened in a vicious tone.  "What the hell is wrong with you?"

            "He's let his demon nature get the better of him," Sango said slowly.  "There's something in the air that is forcing him to act this way.  Can't you sense it?  It feels like youki, but not exactly…"

            "Get a hold of yourself, Shippo," Miroku walked up so that he stood slightly behind Inu Yasha, but was at an angle in which he could look the kitsune in the eye.  "Either that or I will have to assist you in the process."  Kagome didn't miss the threat in the monk's voice.  He was speaking in such a casual way, but both Sango and herself knew that it was times like these that their priestly friend was the most dangerous.

            "Yeah?  How would you do that, human?" Shippo challenged.

            Miroku smiled a smile that did not look pleasant at all, and punched him in the stomach.  "I'm sorry, Shippo," he apologized as the demon fell to the ground.  

            "You bastard…" he glared at the monk with hatred before Inu Yasha hit him across the head, knocking him out.

            "Idiot.  Thinking you could actually beat us…" Inu Yasha looked at the unconscious figure with distaste.  "What the hell is wrong with you?" he demanded again.

            Kagome instinctively wanted to run and help her friend, despite his recent performance.  Miroku held her back with his staff, and turned to look at her better.

            "Kagome-sama, I don't suppose you happen to have any spare prayer beads on you?"  He lifted up his right arm to show his own.  "I'd give mine away, but that isn't possible…"

            "What are you getting at?" Inu Yasha asked in a confused tone.

            "It appears as though those prayer beads kept you from loosing your sense of self," Sango noted.  "We all know that some forms of youki can be suppressed by a holy artifact, such as prayer beads, and it might help us restrain Shippo."

            Kagome couldn't help but shudder at how odd that last phrase sounded as she shook her head.  _I never thought I'd see the day we would have to do this kind of thing to him…_

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            "Hakkai, how much longer until we reach the next town?" the blonde man asked impatiently.

            "As long as there is nothing to delay us, I'd say by early evening," the green-eyed demon smiled as he continued driving.  "Any particular reason?"

            Sanzo decided to not answer, assuming his normal lack-of-tolerance for both Gojyo and Goku's arguments to be explanation enough.

            "If you're referring to the odd chi we sensed earlier, I wouldn't worry.  We aren't heading in the direction of the malicious-feeling one."

            After the startling pause in their journey earlier that day, the mysterious chis seemed to have vanished.  Sanzo had assumed that whatever happened had been an outburst of energy – he could find no other reason for the unusual circumstances allowing his companions and himself to feel it.  They were no gods – they could not sense others over great distances.  A majority of the time they relied on Goku's heightened senses to alert them of demon presences.  That, and all of the polluted youki from the Minus Wave clouded his and the other's minds like a patchy fog.  Sometimes they could sense their opponents approaching, and sometimes they could not.

            Sanzo generally could have cared less about several new powerful beings in the area.  So what if one was evil?  He was no Champion of Justice set out to right every wrong that ever occurred.  As long as it didn't mess with him, he saw no reason to even think of approaching it.

            It wasn't only that, but the priest had sensed an unconscious fear grow inside his "pet" as they all reeled from the earlier event.  As his mind processed all the thoughts that had gone through his head in that split second, he realized that he did not have a desire to confront it either.

            "Who said I was worried?"

            The driver laughed.  "You're quieter than normal.  Usually about now you'd be attempting to get Gojyo and Goku to relieve their restlessness in a way besides their usual behavior."

            Sanzo's eyebrows rose minimally at the statement.  Only those that knew him would be able to tell that he had even changed his expression at all.  He then let his face fall back into his normal indifferent appearance.

            "Che."

            Hakkai's voice dropped lower so that his companions in the backseat – well, one companion in particular – would be less likely to hear them.  "With Kougaiji's recent injuries, I also highly doubt that anyone from Gyumaoh's side would send any assassins anytime soon.  He was in pretty rough shape."

            "Kougaiji won't die that easily.  Demons heal quicker than humans do."  Sanzo paused to pull out a pack of cigarettes.  "And I wouldn't put it past them to send some other idiots to try to slow us down."

            "Well, they _are_ accomplishing that much," Hakkai responded with a somewhat strained smile.  "According to the master plan, we should be probably about a month's worth of driving ahead of where we are now."

            "Nothing ever did go according to plan," the disgruntled priest pointed out.

            "Yes, but that makes life that much more interesting," the demon's expression returned to it's normal smile.

            The two fell silent as they stared out at the road ahead of them.  The conversation behind them, which had previously been temporarily ignored, seemed to gain volume.

            "Give them back, you thief!" Gojyo demanded in a low voice.

            "I told you, I didn't steal them!  I _borrowed_ them at the last town when I was playing with some of the villagers.  One of _them_ took it!" Goku shot back.

            Already aware of the situation, Hakkai seemed to be a step ahead of the two.  "Gojyo, we can get you a new deck of cards in the next town.  We should be getting there soon."

            Sanzo noticed the half-demon paused to smile at his friend slightly before continuing.

            "Thanks, Hakkai, but that can't replace the fact that it was my _favorite_ deck!  We've been through a lot together!"

            "Gojyo, you make it sound as if those cards are your best friend."  Hakkai smiled while his tone pretended to seem slightly offended.  "I'm hurt."

            "Hey, those cards put a roof over my head _and_ yours plus put food on the table.  Without them I might have had to get a job doing something respectable."

            "Like that would ever happen," Sanzo muttered to himself, yet loud enough to make sure that all of his companions heard.

            Gojyo was about to rise to the priest's bait when his _real_ best friend cut him off.

            "Gojyo's right though, Goku.  It isn't nice to take people's things without asking."

            The young man seemed confused.  "But Sanzo and Gojyo steal each others lighters all the time…"

            The half-demon had been in the process of pulling out his cigarettes during this statement when he noticed that he was missing a very important piece of his belongings.

            "Speaking of which…" Sanzo could see the man's annoyed expression in the rear-view mirror.  "Give me back my lighter, you damn monk."

            "Who ever said I had it?  Don't blame me because you can't find your stuff."

            "What the hell…" Goku's distant comment distracted the two chain smokers as they looked off to the side to view a somewhat surprising sight.  Two demons were locked in a struggle that appeared to be going nowhere.

            The first demon seemed normal enough, he had long pointed ears, a birthmark on his lower neck – exactly like the demons they always seemed to run into.  However, the other demon was vastly different.

            It looked like, for the lack of a better way for Sanzo to describe it, a living pile of shit.  The form was undefined, and the priest couldn't even distinguish what _kind_ of demon it was.  It was as if it were only a mass of youki in a physical form.

            An inhuman cry came from the second demon as it was pushed back against a large boulder.  Trying to free itself from it's captive's grasp, it used it's body mass to gain momentum and rolled so that the parts of captor and captive were switched.

            The captor screeched in glee, and Sanzo saw Goku flinch slightly at the high-pitched noise.  His attention was brought back to the fighting pair in morbid fascination as one of the human-like demon's arms was ripped off and thrown to the side.

            Crying out in pain, the injured demon seemed to get a determined look on his face and quickly plunged a hand into the creature's body.  For a second, the world seemed to stop as a look of triumph crossed the injured demon's face.

            It was then that he noticed it.  The demon's claws were grasping a small object tightly from within the second form.  Giving his own companions a sidelong glance, he looked to see if they had noticed it.  By the look on their faces, even on Hakkai's, it appeared that they had not.

            In one last quick movement, the first demon pulled the object out and held it in his hand.  It looked like a shard of glass.  The evil aura that emanated from it was almost overwhelming.  Smirking in triumph, the other demon's youki dissipated as the body faded into nothingness.  Slowly rising to his feet, the demon examined the object in his hands.  He winced as the movement sent spasms of pain through is body.

            As if in a daze, the demon stared at the fragment of jewel in his hand with amazement.  Confusion clouded his face as well as apprehension as he held such a powerful fragment, and he did not seem to know what to do with it.

            For a full minute, the five figures sat frozen, staring as if mesmerized at the foreign object.  Sanzo could not figure out how else to describe it – it was certainly not from this world.

            As the priest continued to observe it, he watched as some of the dark aura seemed to snake out and coil around the demon's arm.  The creature seemed unaware of it, until it reached his head.  Eyes glazing over, the demon seemed to lose control completely of his body.

            "Would this really make me stronger?" the demon asked in almost a panicked voice to himself.  As if answering his own question, he rammed the shard into his bloody remains of his shoulder as Sanzo saw the last of his willpower slip away.  The Sanzo-ikkou watched in horror as the severed limb rejoined his flesh and completely healed itself.

            "Oh my God…" Gojyo whispered.  "What the fuck did he just do?"

            The demon turned to leave, and before he knew what he was doing, Sanzo found himself standing up and taking aim.  _A demon should not have this in its possession,_ Sanzo thought to himself.  The priest could see the exact location in the demon's arm where the shard was located…

            He aimed for the shoulder first, and then the head.  Sanzo had never liked wasting bullets – especially on demon scum – but he had a gut feeling that he would regret it if he didn't.  Having never failed him before, Sanzo trusted his instincts and fired the Smith and Wesson twice.

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*Ahem*  I'd like to apologize for the delay on this chapter.  Sanzo was being… difficult… and the scene never did sound right until just recently.  I also got a bit sidetracked with my other story, "Somewhere I Belong", because the idea hit me VERY hard and I had to write it down.  *sweatdrop*  (And by the way, if any of you are reading that story, it will be updated tomorrow.  ^^)

-Iapetus


	10. Shooting Star

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

**Disclaimer:**  *wishes she owned Saiyuki and Inu Yasha*  Fortunately for you guys I don't…

Woohoo!  We are now at 10 chapters!  *dances around excited*  This is only the second fic that I have ever written that got into the double digits.  For those of you currently reading, thank you for sticking around for so long!  (and believe me, there's going to be a lot more to come…)

Review responses can be found in the link in my bio.  Thank you for all of your feedback, I really appreciate it!

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Chapter 10:  Shooting Star

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            Souta woke to the feeling of cold metal on the bare skin of his chest.  His eyes flew open, looking around him quickly.

            He was in the forest of chains again.  The chains seem to radiate from within themselves their own light, contrasting against the black nothingness they fell against.  Souta looked up, and could not see what the chains were attached to from the sky.  They seemed to extend up into infinity, and then some.  Some chains were hanging off other chains, and some were draped across the landscape, creating a makeshift canopy.  These canopies, however, were on several levels, and Souta occasionally felt claustrophobic.  Some chained "ceilings" he had to duck under, while others were hundreds of feet over his heads.  However, he couldn't worry about that now.

            As Souta began to run in a (somewhat) familiar direction through the forest "brush", he noticed something very important about his attire.  The first thing was that he was carrying a katana on his left side.

            The second thing was that he was only wearing pants.  Leather pants.

            Souta sweatdropped.  Now that he thought about it, he had been wearing only leather pants last time too.  Why he had not noticed before was beyond him, but he decided to try not to think about it at that moment.  What interested him more was the katana at his side.

            Grasping the handle firmly, he unsheathed the blade to inspect it in all of it's glory.  He had, in his growing interest of kendo and martial arts in general, visited many different museums and had seen many different swords.  But this one… this one had never been used.  There were no nicks in the blade, no stains to be seen anywhere, and seem to shine with a light brighter than the chains around him.  While it was obviously heavier than any wooden sword he had ever carried, it felt evenly balanced and somehow _right_.  It was as if this magnificent weapon was made for him.  It was like it was meant to be carried by him and him alone.  Souta could not remember how he had come across such a remarkable blade.  _It is as if the God of Fire, God of War, and God of the Smithy had all teamed up to create the *perfect* katana,_ he thought.  _No, wait,_ he amended, _Add the Goddess of Beauty to that…_

            Shifting his grip, he began to inspect the handle of the incredible weapon.  The hilt was silver and black, and reminded him of a starry night.  As he looked closer at it, he was somehow reminded of his wooden sword – the wooden sword Kanzeon Bosatsu had given him herself.  This feeling intensified when he looked down at the ebony colored scabbard, although he could not pinpoint why.

            A growing feeling of… something… was welling up inside his stomach again.  He needed to get _there_ (wherever _there_ was), and fast.  He had no idea why.  It was just that he knew that someone needed his help.

            _This time it is someone I know…_ Souta realized.  _I can't tell who, but I KNOW this person…  _Sheathing his blade, Souta again began to run in the direction that was calling to him.

            The chains were growing thicker, and Souta had a fleeting thought of taking out the katana and cutting through them, like he would brush in a real forest.  He laughed at the thought, knowing that it had to be ridiculous.  Even if a weapon like this beautiful katana could cut through steel and iron in the hands of a master, Souta knew that he was not one.  It would also be a shame to chip or scratch such a blade over something so stupid.  He had never handled a katana before that moment, and was not used to the weight.  Chi manipulation could aid him in the task, but he had not been able to reach that level.  Throwing one's chi as a weapon came fairly naturally to demons, but it took LOTS of practice for a human to master.  Since his primary teacher of chi control did not live in his time on a regular basis, his grasp on the technique was sketchy at best.  He was not a master, even if he WAS able to defeat those punks from the town he stayed at.

            Soon the chains became a wall, and Souta knew he had to try to cut through – for the way he needed to go was straight through the blocked path.  There was no way around – the wall stretched on either side of him into infinity.  _This is so stupid,_ he thought to himself, _but somehow I feel that it might work…_

            Higurashi Souta drew the katana and took a traditional fighting stance.  He closed his eyes to calm himself and concentrate on what he was about to do.  Manifesting some of his chi into the blade of the katana, Souta's eyes snapped open and he ran towards the wall, gaining momentum.  Slashing diagonally, the young swordsman was shocked to see the chains cleanly fall to the ground with a loud rattle. 

            _I did that?_ He thought with surprise.  _But I am no master… how is this possible?_  Looking down at the blade, Souta feared the worst – that his recent action had somehow marred its perfect beauty.  He was relieved, and surprised, when he saw that it was still clean.  It was still as if it had never been used before.  It was truly a magnificent blade.

            Souta decided not to question his luck further, and ducked through the opening he had made.  What he saw came as a surprise and not a surprise at the same time.

            The first of the two figures was a man who appeared to be his elder sister's age.  Long white hair feel freely down his bare back.  Unable to be hidden at the top of his head were two particular ears – ones that looked like a dog's own ears.  They were also white, minus the exception of the fleshy pink of his inner ear.  In the position he was in, his snowy colored hair pooled slightly on the chain linked ground.  

            He had known who the person was by the color of his hair, but had he had any doubt – the man's eyes would have put aside all other possibilities.  They were golden, but not in the same way that the man from last time's had been.  The pupils were rounded slits, and yet seemed to be still so human at the same time.  The gold of his eyes seemed to be slightly mixed with an orange-like tint, and Souta was reminded of a burnished gold more than anything else.  There was no childlike innocence in the eyes of Inu Yasha.  There was not any innocence at all.

            The second of the two figures was a younger man who appeared to be a year younger than Souta himself.  _That would make him around fifteen,_ Souta thought.  _He would be as old as Kagome was the first time she fell through the well._  This man also had long hair, but not nearly as long as his elder companion.  Tied back with a braided piece of rough leather, the ponytail fell to the young man's upper back.  Some strands fell freely around his pointed ears, revealing his demonic heritage.  His hair was an orange-like shade of red, like the color of the foreign exchange student from Ireland's hair who had visited Souta's school two years before.

            His eyes were a dark green, darker than the third man he had seen from last time.  The young man's eyes told of pranks yet to be played, of arguments still to fight, and of the playfulness that nothing would ever be able to quell from within his soul.  They were the eyes of a fox, and Souta knew that this young man had to be the fox demon who accompanied his elder sister Kagome on her adventures, the fox demon Shippo.  In all of Kagome's years of traveling through the well, the young swordsman had only met Inu Yasha.  Apparently, the others could not travel through the well, for unknown reasons.  His eyes also told something else, something deeper for those who would take the time to look.  A young man of this age should have not seen the things that he has seen, or do the things that he has done.  It reminded Souta of his own eyes so much that it slightly frightened him.

            The two of them were also only wearing leather pants, and wore shackles on their wrists.  Souta now began to grow suspicious.  The three men from before were shackled like this, but he didn't notice any pointed ears or demonic chi.  In fact, he could not sense the demonic chi, or youki, in either of them.  Even if they were not evil, ALL demons had youki that mingled with their chi.  They felt like the three men did – he could not pinpoint exactly what they were.

            _That doesn't make any sense, though,_ Souta thought.  _*I* am not a demon, and my own chi feels like that.  Those other three did not *look* like demons…_  But there had been those ominous pieces of metal on the two of them.  One had a coronet, and the other had three clasps on his ear.  Souta had no idea what they were, but tried to push it out of his mind.

            It was at that moment that the two demons decided to take notice of him.  Souta felt a little self-conscious, even a bit embarrassed.  He tried to tell himself that they were dressed the same as he was, but it didn't make it any easier.  They were leather pants, dammit!  He didn't even own any leather pants.

            The young man Souta believed to be Shippo stood up and walked over to him.  The chains dragged behind him nosily, making Inu Yasha wince.

            "Don't make so much noise, Shippo you little brat!" the half demon shouted out, verifying Souta's guess.

            "I'm not little anymore!" Shippo turned around and shouted back.  "And I can't help it!"  He pointed down at the chains.  "It isn't like I can just lift all of them up."

            Souta noticed that the particular chains attached to Shippo's shackles on his wrists extended beyond the "cave" and out behind the walls.  Souta again wondered how they were able to move around without getting tangled or caught.

            The young fox demon turned back to the young swordsman and smiled.  "Hi, I'm Shippo!" he enthusiastically introduced himself.  "Do you know where Kagome is?"

            Souta was surprised at the question.  The fox demon had never seen him before, and yet he could tell that he was connected to Kagome.  He saw Inu Yasha smirk at his silent response.

            "I thought she was with you," Souta said carefully.  "She left my world only a couple days ago to go be with you and your friends for a year.  I wish I knew, though…"

            "How do you know her?" Shippo asked, curious.  "You have Kagome's scent on you, and your own scent is similar to Kagome's somehow…"

            _I smell?_ Souta thought, slightly disgusted.  _I know everything has a smell, but it still doesn't sound right…_

            "Idiot," Inu Yasha said smugly.  "This is her little brother."

            Shippo was torn from looking from Souta in awe and surprise to answering Inu Yasha's insult.  He resolved to do both in quick succession.

            "Idiot Inu Yasha, how was I supposed to know?" he retorted.  "You are the only one who has met him – you are the only one who can go through the well besides Kagome!"  He turned back to the young swordsman.  "So you're Souta?  Kagome's younger brother?" he asked, excited.

            Souta was surprised at how energetic the young fox demon's response was to the revelation of his identity.

            "Yes…" Souta began somewhat hesitantly.  "But what are you two doing here?" he wondered.

            "Isn't it obvious?" Inu Yasha said condescendingly, "we're waiting for some people to come here."

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            Souta woke up suddenly, his body in a cold sweat.  It was the middle of the night, and he could not hear a sound anywhere.  It was generally the time of night where one was tired to simply be awake then.  However, for the young swordsman, there could be no sleep now.  It was the second dream he had had of chains, and it was beginning to disturb him.

            _Two different groups of people, all wearing shackles on their wrists,_ he thought.  _Two groups of people, all waiting for someone, or several people._  He did not understand it.

            Pushing aside the twisted bed sheets, Souta stood up and went to the window of his bedroom.  He liked Xing Xing and De Wei's house, it was on the edge of the forest.  He especially liked the room they had let him borrow, for it did not face the streets of the town but directly out to the dark forest.  He could see the stars better from his room than any other window in the house, and it helped him think.

            The stars were so much more brilliant than at home, he realized.  With the lack of light pollution, as well as normal air pollution, Higurashi Souta was able to see millions upon millions of more stars than he had ever seen before.  He didn't know if it was because of the fact that he was in the past, or that he was in a different geographical location, or that there was just so much _power_ surging in the countryside, but the sky looked more mystical than he had ever seen it.  It was as if it were trying to tell him secrets that no mortal had heard before.

            Souta opened the window and leaned against his arms on the windowsill.  He could see the Milky Way galaxy from here, and it was the part of the sky that intrigued him the most.  The dusting of stars were calling out to him, telling him to pay close attention to what was happening.  Souta did not know how he knew this, but he did know that there was no way for him to sleep right now, so why waste time in bed when he could look up at this magnificent sky?  

            As he considered that thought, he saw a shooting star fly across his field of vision.  When he was a child, and maybe even before the Merciful Goddess had called him to his own adventure, he would have immediately wished upon it.  However, after landing in ancient China and fighting four demons simultaneously upon arrival, the young swordsman realized that one should be careful what they wish for.  So, for the first time in his life, Souta did not wish upon a falling star.

            He was surprised, however, when the star seemed to come closer to his location.  Souta knew that meteorites could land anywhere, and wondered if this one would strike close to the village.  The light grew brighter, and yet seemed to fade at the same time.  _It's going to hit nearby!_ He thought, excited.  That was, if it did not burn up first.  He braced himself for impact, but the impact came in a far different way.

A presence seemed to call out to him, in desperate need of help.  It was far different than the time he had saved Shuang, for there was no fear in this presence.  There was more of confusion than anything else.  There was something else, too.  Souta extended his senses to try to discern it.  _This presence is not human,_ he realized.  _It is not a demon either.  It feels like the kind of presence the Merciful Goddess had…_  His eyes widened at the thought.

            Grabbing a piece of paper and pen from inside the drawer of the end table by his bed, Souta wrote out a quick note to De Wei and Xing Xing in case they came to check on him before he came back.  Then, grabbing his wooden sword, he quietly exited his room and out of the house.  As soon as he hit the road, he headed for the forest where he had felt the presence.

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            In the middle of a forest lay the figure of clad mostly in white.  His golden eyes, while not closed, held a slightly dazed expression within them.  It was a sight that few ever saw and lived to tell the tale.  The great dog demon Sesshomaru did not show his weakness to anymore.

            The demon lord shook his head slowly, and moved himself into a sitting position.  One moment, he had appeared before his brother, and the next he felt that he was being taken away somewhere.  At first, he suspected that his younger brother's woman had something to do with it, but she had the same pained expression on her face that he did.  The Shikon shard in his arm had felt like it was burning him, and that it wanted to come out.  He had fought long and hard against other demons to keep this particular shard in his possession, and he wasn't about to let it leave on it's own accord.  While it had been interesting searching for other demon limbs to act as replacements, he had been relieved to get his own arm back again.  He didn't care what happened to the Shikon shard particularly after his arm finished healing, but he knew that he did not want either the bastard Naraku or his own younger brother to get their hands on it.

            His eyes narrowed slightly, and a frown formed on his face.  Where _was_ his brother, exactly?  He had been ready to attack him before this whole mess started.  In fact, he could feel none of those previously in his company around him.  He was alone in this foreign forest.

            He could care less about Inu Yasha, but he knew that his companions would be looking for him.  Jaken could defend himself against weaker demons, and he was not particularly worried about his subordinate's welfare.

            _Is Rin with him?_ He wondered fleetingly.  The girl had always somehow managed to cause him to be concerned.  She was only a human, and had no real way to defend herself.  Over the years of living with her, she had learned basic defense skills.  Rin would never attack demons – Sesshomaru could do that alone – but it always made him wary when she was not with him.  _Is she safe?_

            "Rin?" he called out into the forest.  He knew that he could not feel her presence anywhere, but he still fleetingly hoped that he was wrong.

            "Jaken?" as he called out his subordinate's name, he also wished that there would be no response.  Jaken and Rin had a habit of ending up in generally the same places, and if he couldn't find her, he would probably not find his servant as well.

            The dog demon stood up slowly and inspected himself.  There was nothing wrong with his body from whatever had happened, except a bit of dirt on his robes and his mantle.  His swords had somehow unattached themselves to his left side in the fall, and he made his way to pick them up.

            After checking to make sure that they had not been damaged in some way, he fastened them securely to his left side.  Sensing the presence of some demons nearby, Sesshomaru causally dusted himself off and started to walk towards the demons in question.

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            The demon cried out in surprise and pain as he faded away.  The priest's three other companions looked at him in surprise.  The great Genjo Sanzo did as little fighting against the "demon scum" as possible, and here he was, shooting a demon that had not even attacked them.  He climbed out of the jeep, seemingly oblivious to their shocked expressions.

            "Sanzo?"  The priest didn't miss the confused tone that his driver had failed to hide.  "Sanzo, what's the matt-"

            The high priest was hit with a tremor of negative energy.  _No,_ Sanzo amended the statement, _it isn't negative.  It just amplifies and multiplies whatever touched it last._  Spinning around, he saw Hakkai stooped on the ground with his eyes wide.  The demon was gripping his left ear like his life depended on it.

            "Stay back!" he yelled at Gojyo and Goku as they moved to his aid.  Even from here, Sanzo could see cracks in his charge's diadem.

            "My power limiters are trying to fall off…"

            Defiantly going against the negative energy, Gojyo walked over to his best friend's side after he was sure that Goku was far back enough.  When the hanyou moved to help the demon, Hakkai viciously pushed him away.

            "Snap out of it, Hakkai," Gojyo said seriously.  As he water sprite continued to try to move his friend, Sanzo walked until he was standing directly in front of the shard.

            _How could something so small be so powerful?_  The priest wondered.  Kneeling, he cautiously moved to pick it up.

            The moment his fingers touched the object, it was as if he could feel the air change around him.  The negative aura vanished and was replaced by a pure one.  He heard Hakkai gasp, and then sigh in relief from behind him.

            _What IS this thing?_

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            "WHAT THE HELL?"

            The fox demon's four other companions winced at the volume of his voice.  Shippo generally had more sense to shout in the middle of the night, especially in the middle of a strange forest.

            This time, however, the kitsune had a legitimate reason to be surprised.  Jumping up in disbelief, he promptly lost his balance and fell over.

            He no longer had a tail.

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Just a warning to everyone, my finals for college start this week, so if the next chapter somehow gets delayed, you'll know why.    The two groups will meet up soon, but you'll get a chance to see some of the *other* characters meet up first.  Sorry, but the plot kind of wrote itself like that.  *sweatdrop*

Comments and criticisms appreciated!

-Iapetus


	11. Decoy

Kindred Spirits

An Inu Yasha and Saiyuki fan fiction by Iapetus

**Disclaimer:**  Point number one – the artistic styles to both Inu Yasha and Saiyuki are vastly different.  They are done by different people.  I am not either one of those people.

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I can't believe how many reviews I've gotten for this story!  I'm glad everyone is having as much fun reading this story as I am having fun writing it.  Thank you for all of your input, I greatly appreciate it.  Review responses can be found in the link in my bio.

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Please make sure you read the note at the end of the chapter.

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Chapter 11:  Decoy

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            His sleep had been dreamless, much like the five hundred years of nothingness he had experienced only too recently.  The former fighting god winced slightly at the memory, causing the pressure around his eyes to tighten.  He did not like to think about that.  However, the action startled himself out of the lighter sleep his body had moved into, forcing his eyes wide open.  It was different than last time.  Nataku had been catatonic for five hundred years with his eyes lifelessly open, but he had finally slept with his eyes closed.

            Looking up through the break in the canopy of trees, the crown prince realized that it was very late at night, and possibly early morning.  The stars of heaven twinkled down at him, as if wondering why one of their own had taken up residence on earth.  Nataku smiled.  He had hated heaven with all of the hypocrites that lived there.  And yet, while there were hypocrites living on earth, Nataku found the humans and demons generally more truthful.

            The thought of demons brought his thoughts back to reality.  He was alone in a place he did not recognize, and was just _lying down._  Gods could be killed, he remembered with an ache of his heart.  He could not remember why it hurt to think that, but he was sure it was hidden in the memories he could not access.

            _I don't have time to think about this,_ Nataku thought seriously.  _I need to get up and figure out where I am._  Trying to move his body, the young god found it difficult to move his limbs.  He mused that it must have been from the five hundred years of sitting in the same position.  His muscles and nerves, while mystically protected from erosion by the power of Heaven, had still not been used in awhile.  Nataku felt like a rusted pistol that needed to be oiled and cleaned.

            It took the god five minutes of strain and heavy breathing to hoist himself into a sitting position.  He felt significantly better, but still incredibly vulnerable.  The action had exhausted him, and threatened to have him lapse back into sleep.  He gritted his teeth and willed himself to stay awake.  The forest was the worst place to fall asleep.

            The five hundred years of feigned sleep had not dampened his senses, however, and the former fighting god felt the hair prickle in the back of his neck.  There were two presences heading straight for him.  The first was that of a demon, and was slightly farther away than the second presence.  It was also coming from the opposite direction.

            The second presence was that of a human whose speed had picked up at sensing the demon.  Nataku noted that his stealth was impressive for a human, but still desperately wished that the human would turn away.  He did not want them to get hurt the demon that was surely coming for the fighting god.

            The crown prince shook his head in slight surprise as he felt the human presence come closer.  The human was a fighter, he noted that in his chi, but something else was unusual about him.  It was a sense of belonging and not belonging at the same time.  Nataku had never thought that a human could feel otherworldly, but this one did.  He did not have time to analyze the chi further, because now the human was right in front of him.

            Nataku was shocked to see that the human was about his age.  His body had slowed the aging process significantly during his catatonic sleep, and he knew that he appeared to be around sixteen years old to human eyes.  He was also surprised that such a skillful human fighter was so young.

            The young man was in great physical shape, in which Nataku was not surprised due to his fighting spirit.  His hair, while Nataku could not be sure of in the partial light of the moon, appeared to be black, and was cut short.  Somehow though, his eyes shown through the darkness and locked with his own.  They were a particular shade of brown that he had never seen before.  The eye color was so common yet so uncommon it was hard to describe.

            The young man was only wearing a pair of brown pants, and the former fighting god could tell by his heightened breath that he had come in a hurry.  He also held a wooden sword, which made Nataku smile faintly.  He could tell by the soft lingering presence surrounding the weapon that it was a gift from Kanzeon Bosatsu.  It was not what made the young man unusual, but it was surely something that made him even more interested in the human.

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            Souta had not known exactly known what to think when he saw the figure sitting against the tree.  He looked like he was exhausted at the idea of simply existing, which puzzled the young swordsman.  Now that he could see the one he sought with his own eyes, he realized that his guess had been true.  While he could not figure out why he was so helpless, Souta knew in his heart that this young man who appeared to be his own age was not a man, but a god.

            Souta could not discern the color of his hair in the waning light of the moon, but it appeared to be either a black or very dark purple.  His bangs fell in separate strands all around his face, while the rest of his hair was pulled back into a bun.  Following the strands of hair, Souta was surprised to see what he saw in the god's face.

            On his forehead was a mark that was the shape of a diamond; it stood out prominently on his face, until one looked into his eyes.  Souta bit his tongue from gasping out loud – his eyes were same color as those from the man in his dream.  They were molten gold like the other young man's, but did not hold any of the childlike innocence that the young man's did.  They were not like Inu Yasha's either, but the innocence was gone from the shimmer in his eyes.  There were hints of sadness in them, but at the moment they held a curiosity that rivaled his own.

            Had the young swordsman not been able to tell of the god's identity initially, the clothes would have given him away.  They looked more regal and amazing than anything Souta had ever seen in any history book or museum.  He smiled to himself.  _Only the gods could wear clothes like that, get dirty, and still look more majestic than anything humans could create,_ he thought.  It was true.  The god had been sitting in a patch of dirt, and his clothes were covered in dust and dirt stains.

            The demonic presence that he had rushed to beat was coming closer, snapping Souta's thoughts back to reality, along with the god's.  Souta willed himself to make it appear that he did not notice it coming.  He saw the god smile at his reaction – his eyes had given himself away.  He had looked off to the right, where he had sensed the presence coming from.

            _Please, come after me,_ Souta begged his adversary.  _I have no idea why, but the god is in no condition to fight.  Please think _I _am the weak one because I'm human… come after me instead…_  

            The demon's presence disappeared.  Souta could tell that he was simply getting ready to attack.  He wanted desperately to ask the god whether he was ok, but it would hijack his plan if the answer were anything other than "fine."  It was obvious that the answer was going to be "fine."

            He lazily fingered his grip on his wooden sword, feigning the skill of an amateur.  _Come on out, so I can deal with you,_ Souta thought.  _I need to get this god somewhere he can rest._

            The demon chose that second in which to answer his request.

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            Nataku had seen the worry in the young man's eyes, but also saw the foresight that he had to not say anything.  He was patiently waiting for the demon to come out, while playing the part of a confused human.

            To his left – the human's right – the demon jumped out of his hiding place, running towards the human in a rush attack.

            _So the demon _did_ decide to take the bait,_ Nataku thought to himself.  It was now his chance to see if the young man was any good or not, or if he would only be a delay before the fight the crown prince knew he might have to partake in.  _How_ he would fight in this state he did not know, but he knew that he would still try.

            The young human barely made it out of the way of the first charge, and he could tell that it was not an act.  Sometimes one would pretend to not be able to move until the last second, and then suddenly change direction, but he had not taken this route.  It was not enough that the human knew that the demon was out there; he had to know his exact location in order to pull off the stunt.

            The human stepped back and fell into a defensive stance, this time with both hands grasping the wooden sword.  There was no more time for faking inexperience; if he were to stay alive he would have to use all the skills available to him.

            The demon rushed at the human again, with a growl of annoyance in his voice.  Humans were supposed to be easy prey – the boy should already be lying on the ground dead, and he should be going after the other.  The "boy" grit his teeth and flared his ki, challenging his attacker further.

            The demon laughed.  "You, a puny human, think you are a worthy opponent of me?" he mocked.  "I am a demon, and the strongest one in this area.  None of you from the village can oppose me, those stupid buffoons you call village champions were beaten down by lesser demons."

            "If they were beaten down by lesser demons, why did the village not fear you but fear the Forest Brothers?" the young man asked, running to meet the demon head on.

            "The Forest Brothers are dead!  I was the second most powerful demon in the area besides them!  Now I am the first!" the male demon said triumphantly.  He slashed at the young man with his six-inch long claws.  The young man blocked it with his wooden sword then tried a vertical slash to the demon's head.  The demon side stepped the blow, and appeared suddenly behind the young man.

            Nataku was impressed.  The young man was a good fighter, even if he had not connected yet.  The demon was a terrible fighter, the only thing he had going for himself was speed.  Unfortunately, the young man could not match the demon when it came to speed.  _But speed is not everything,_ the former fighting god thought.  _It is how you use it…_

            As the demon had side stepped the swordsman's vicious blow, he slashed again at the young man, this time to his right side.  The young man tucked and rolled out from his fighting stance, ending up five feet away from his adversary.  Nataku saw the thin trail of blood travel across the forest floor.  Looking across the way towards the human, he saw a shallow cut on the young man's thigh.  Most of the slash had simply gone through the pant leg, and had not hit skin.  The demon had taken first blood.

            The young man quickly stood up, only to find the demon staring at him with great interest, licking his claws.  "Did you know that your blood tastes amazing, boy?" he grinned evilly, still licking his claws in slow movements.  "There are very few humans that exist in this world that can satisfy my hunger."  Taking his forefinger of his right hand, he sucked the last of the blood off it in a long and obvious gesture.  "You are handsome too."

            Nataku recoiled at the statement.  So, this demon was not only one that thrived on pain, but also one that liked young men like the human he was currently fighting.  He was amused when the human had a similar reaction on his face.

            The human had taken the demon's pause in the fight for talking as a chance to catch his breath, and was now charging the demon with a superhuman speed.  Nataku could feel that he was concentrating his chi in his legs, and especially in the soles of his feet.  The comment had seemed to light a spark the chocolate brown eyes of the young man – as if the fight suddenly became one he could not afford to loose (in more ways than one).

            Nataku watched helplessly as the demon spun behind the young man, thinking that he had caught the human off guard again.  However, the human stopped abruptly, and spun around.

            With the momentum of his spin, the human slashed to the demon's left, finally making contact.  Nataku could hear the sound of several ribs shattering on impact.  There was no way he could have avoided injury in that confrontation while taking the impact head on – the human had put some of his ki into his wooden sword.  Anger was a useful tool when used correctly.

            The demon screamed out in pain as he began to cough up blood.  "How – how were you able to best me?" he cried out.  "How could a human like you as young as you are defeat a demon like me?"

            "I have experience," the young human replied simply.  He looked over at Nataku, silently asking him what he wanted to do.  The former fighting god was surprised.  _This young man was injured and insulted by this demon for his lewdness, and he's asking _my permission_ to finish him off?_  The crown prince quickly nodded, not wanting to hear anymore from the pathetic demon.

            The young man again took a fighting stance, glaring at the demon.  "Who do you think was the one who _killed_ the Forest Brothers?  Of course, you are no better than they are, you sick and twisted pervert."  With that, he slashed downwards towards the demon's exposed neck with all of his might.

            "No – no, you do not understand!" the demon pleaded helplessly.  "Lord Kougaiji-"

            Whatever the demon was to have said about this person the two never found out.  But, in the back of his mind, something jogged his memory.  Nataku had heard that name before.

            Silence reigned supreme for a moment, and the world seemed to stand still.  Nataku had just witnessed a human youth take out a full-grown youkai.  _It sounds by what he says that he also killed others,_ Nataku noted.  _But he didn't brag about it.  I don't think he's that kind of person…_

            The young man bent down towards the ground and wiped the blood off his wooden sword on the grass.  He then made his way quickly over to the exhausted god and kneeled down.  The crown prince noticed that he slightly flinched when he did this.

            "Are you ok?" the young man asked seriously.

            Nataku decided to neglect small talk.  "I – I can't move my body."  Actual talking was a strenuous activity, and he tried to say as much as possible with as few words as he could.

            The young man seemed to be taken aback at this statement for a moment.  Quickly recovering, he offered another solution.  "If I were to carry you on my back, would you be able to hold onto me?  The town is not too far from here, and the place I'm staying at is right on the edge of the woods."

            "I don't know," Nataku said helplessly.  "I don't have any energy…"

            The silence seemed to grow as the young man seemed to sift his mind for ideas.  "We need to get you out of this forest NOW," he whispered.  "There is one thing we can do."  He turned his back towards the god, shifting his crouch on the ground.  "If I lean forward enough, you won't have to worry about falling off."  Nataku found his arms being draped over the young man's shoulders so that they fell against his bare chest.  The young man's back pressed into his chest lightly, and his head came to rest on the young man's left side.  His own purplish black hair mingled with the young man's jet black hair, and he felt fleetingly bad about getting his hair in the young man's face.

            Nataku felt the human hook his arms underneath his legs at his knees, and the young man shift his grip so that he also held his wooden sword in one of his hands.  Slowly, the young swordsman stood up, and Nataku could sense that he was lightly surprised.

            "You are a lot lighter than you look," the young man commented.  The former fighting god could feel the chi swirl in the human's body as he readied himself for the task at hand.  The swordsman's life source was concentrated in his legs and feet again, but also to his arms and wrists.  With that, he took off at a fast walk away from the spot that they had met.

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            The fight, along with the extra energy he used for his chi control in order to carry the god, no matter how light he was, had made him more fatigued than he could ever remember.

            The two had reached Xing Xing and De Wei's house without incident, and Souta thanked the Merciful Goddess that the town of Sanyurrin was not active at night.  The current problem was getting into the house.

            Souta had had to set the god down as he opened the door, then pick him back up, set him down again as they got inside, then close the door again.  The whole operation took about thirty seconds, but the young swordsman wanted to spend as little time as possible in the other parts of the house.

            As he hoisted the god upon his back yet again, Souta prayed that both Xing Xing and De Wei were heavy sleepers.  He would have enough trouble explaining how their guests had increased from one to two without their knowing, but he did not want to have to do it tonight.  The young man felt terrible at the thought of inconveniencing the twin siblings yet again, but vowed that he'd do any and all chores and or favors to make up for it.

            Taking one step at a time, Souta carefully ascended the stairway.  There were a few times in which he had the unfortunate luck of causing the stair in question to creak, tensing both his and the god's muscles.  However, no sound had been made from either Xing Xing or De Wei's rooms, so the young man continued.

            When he reached the guest room, he repeated the procedure he had done at the front door, and let himself in the room.  This time, before closing the door, he set the god down on his bed – arranging his arms and legs so that he lay flat and comfortable.  He set his wooden sword against the nightstand, then went and closed the door.

            Souta picked up the wooden chair at the far end of the room and moved it towards the table by the window.  Setting it next to it, he sat blissfully down and enjoyed the act of not moving at all.  He would have enjoyed it in his own bed even more, but he realized there were more important things to worry about at the moment.

            Souta did not realize that he had his eyes closed until he felt someone staring at him, and opened them to find out who it was.  He was not surprised to see the god staring at him, Souta was only tired.  His mind was not thinking clearly.  It did not help that Souta was just as curious about the god as the god was about him.

            "Why did you save me?" the god asked in a strained whisper.  __

            "Did I need a reason?" he replied tiredly with a smile.  "Besides the fact that you needed help?"  He continued, his smile growing despite his fatigue.  "If so," he yawned, "I'll try to think of one while I sleep.  You need some sleep too."

            The young man watched with satisfaction as a smile appeared on the god's face.  Slowly closing his eyes, the god began to finally relax.

            "Thank you…" he said in a barely audible whisper.

            Souta felt his own eyes close as lay his head on his arms on the table.  "You're welcome."

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            Morning had come too early for the former fighting god as he felt a breeze blow some of his purplish-black hair across his face.  The window of the young man's room faced west, but Nataku could still see the sky brightening with every minute that passed.  He noted, with great satisfaction, that he could move easier today.  His muscles and joints were still stiff, but somehow this short night's rest had unhinged his body slightly.  Pushing himself into a sitting position again (this time with much more ease), he shifted his gaze to the figure of the young man who had been sleeping with his head on the table next to the window.  His eyes were open, and looking back at the bed with great interest.  Seeing the invalid moving around, the young man stopped his act of sleeping, and sat up.

            "I'm sorry for taking your bed," Nataku apologized.

            "Don't worry about it," the young man grinned.  "You had a greater need for it than I did."  He stood up and walked over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.  "Are you feeling ok now?  You looked so tired last night…"

            "I've been better," the former fighting god chuckled.  "But yes, I am doing better.  Talking isn't as tiring as it was last night."

            "I hate it when I'm that tired, I just feel so useless when I do.  Recently it has happened whenever I go up against some weaker demons."

            "You said you "had experience," fighting demons," Nataku noted.  "Are you a professional demon killer?"  The former fighting god had a fleeting memory of someone mentioning the fact that there existed humans that slew demons when a demon went crazy.  The crown prince was just surprised that a human youth could possibly be one, but there were prodigies in every race.

            The young man shook his head.  "No, I'm not.  I took up the way of the sword in order to protect my family – my mother, grandfather, and my older sister.  I made a promise to my father when he…" the young man paused, as if something had caught in his throat.  "…I promised that I would protect them."  He smiled sadly.  "Sometimes I'm able to protect my friends, but they don't realize it is me.  I don't mind, though, I'm the man of the house.  It's my duty."

            Nataku could tell by the emotion in his voice that the young man _did_ mind.  However, the god decided not to press the issue.  He changed tactics.

            "How did you find me?"  He asked politely.  "Most people, even fighters such as yourself, would not be able to sense me.  You not only sensed me, but you found out where I was."

            Souta sweatdropped.  "Well, actually that is because I couldn't sleep last night."  He chuckled.  "I was watching the night sky, because I never get the chance to see it so clear where I live.  As I was looking, I saw a shooting star.   The "star" seemed to come closer and closer, until it landed in the forest."  He smiled, fully realizing that Nataku knew what he was talking about when he said "star."  "Your presence felt so similar to someone else I have met, and that the fact that you seemed like you needed help, I _had_ to go out and find you.  I was curious, and it isn't like me to leave someone in need without any help."

            "You said you met someone else like me.  You didn't happen to talk to Kanzeon Bosatsu, did you?" Nataku questioned carefully.

            The young man seemed hesitant to answer the question.  "I haven't told anyone here yet because they wouldn't have believed me if I did, but yes, I did talk to her."  He smiled slightly.  "She is the one who gave me my wooden sword."

            "She _gave_ you it?" Nataku asked, slightly surprised.  "Why did she give it to you?"

            "Well…" he sweatdropped yet again.  "I was kind of "summoned" by Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama when I didn't have access to my own wooden sword.  She gave it to me when I found myself here."

            "You were summoned?  Are you really that powerful for a human?" Nataku asked, greatly surprised at what he heard.

            The young man paused at "for a human," before he continued.

            "No, I'm not that good – not as good as my sister is or any of her friends.  But the Merciful Goddess said that I would be able to help out my sister if I accepted her offer.  When I did, she brought me here."

            Nataku stopped to think.  There was still something very unusual about this young man that he could not place.  There was something in his aura that reminded him of someone.  It was very faint – so faint that he even doubted the similarity, but he had a power in him like someone he had known.  There was something else too…. Something that suggested that he was untouched by time.

            _Well, there's no way around it, might as well just ask him sometime later,_ the god thought.  "My name is Nataku.  I'm sorry if I sounded rude by asking you all of these questions."  The former fighting god was surprised at the young man's reaction, but noticed that it was only there for a fraction of a second.

            "I'm sorry," he apologized.  "Your name just sounds almost exactly like another name of a person my sister knows – it startled me."  He paused.  "My name is Higurashi Souta."  _Odd name,_ Nataku thought.  _It must be foreign…_  Souta stood up and bowed low.  "Wouldn't you be the Prince of War?" he asked in an awed voice.

            "I _was_ the prince of war," Nataku said in a bland voice.  "I am not entirely sure why I am not now, all I know is that I am not."  He shifted his sitting position in his bed before he continued.  "All I know is that I want to find a friend of mine.  My memory is full of holes, and I think that if I find him he can help me completely remember everything."

            Souta did not say anything for about a several minutes, deep in thought.  Finally, when he spoke up, he surprised the god yet again.

            "If you would like to, I would like to help you find your friend.  Maybe on the way we can find my sister.  Kanzeon-sama said that she would need my help soon, but she isn't even _here_.  I have no idea where to look anyways."

            Nataku smiled.  "That makes two of us.  I'll help you find your sister too."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Ok, if I was a veggie for 500 years, I wouldn't be able to move either…

Everything shall eventually be explained, do not worry.

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**_IMPORTANT NOTE:_**  _Recently I have been having a problem with my leg which makes it almost impossible for me to sit (or stand, or lie down for that matter) without being in terrible pain.  This has made typing incredibly difficult, and that plus finals have greatly reduced my writing output.  So… I don't know when the next chapter will be out.  If any of you are reading "Somewhere I Belong," THIS is the reason the next chapter has not come out yet also.  I do promise you I will work on my stories, but I don't know how much I'll be able to do._

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Please leave any and all feedback.  You'd be surprised how reviews can help someone write…

-Iapetus


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